The XBRL Canada Blog

2012-01-23T11:42:00.003-05:00

Check out XBRL Today, New edition is out.,

2012-01-13T13:50:00.000-05:00

Big Data and XBRL
by Gerald Trites, FCA

For those who think in terms of data, few ideas are more obvious than that any technology that promotes the ability to exchange and mobilize data is something of value. It enables companies to create value from the data they need, and that pool of data is growing exponentially.

In June, 2011, McKinsey Global Institute published their landmark study, "Big data: The next frontier
for innovation, competition, and productivity". Since its publication, the study has gained influence in business, academia and research. Big data has become a major watchword of the 21st century.

When we talk about big data, we mean the vast quantities of data that are created and consumed every day in our world. Not very long ago, we discussed data in terms of megabytes. Then came gigabytes and in larger systems, terabytes. Each exponentially larger than its predecessor. Now we are talking about exabytes.

To get an idea of the meaning of exabytes, one of them is equal to a byte times 10 to the 18th power. That's equal to one quintillion bytes. To put it another way, one exabyte is more than 4000 times the total information stored in the US Library of Congress.

The data is being created at a growing rate through internet traffic, media, research and many other ways. A significant portion is generated through social media, mobile devices, the cloud, etc.

From a business point of view, the data represents a vast resource for defining customer needs, designing new products, determining business trends and developing strategy. The value of data is becoming so important that its presence marks the dawn of a new revolution in business, one in which the success and even the survival of a business depends on its ability to create value from the data, to direct it to the creation of strategic advantage. Companies are beginning to realize this and are ramping up the search for talent that has analytical abilities; something that is becoming a major industry in itself.

But the creation of value from data is subject to a number of constraints. The old ERP and CRM systems, while designed to direct data analysis to strategic decision making, were never designed to cope with the vast volumes of data in the big data world, nor were they designed to cope with the data that comes from social media, although Social CRM has been moving in that direction. The analytical sophistication of these business systems needs to be seriously improved. Also, corporate systems tend often to be segmented into different platforms, thus restricting the mobility of data and the ability to analyze it.Finally, too many managements and their advisors don't get it yet - are not "data-minded" and therefore will miss the strategic advantages that come from big data. And the shortage of people with serious data analytical abilities limits the ability of business to create that value, even if they realize it needs to be done. Absolutely a big challenge for educators and corporate trainers.

The ability to consume data needs to be done in an environment that is data friendly. XBRL is a tool that can make it so. XBRL can be used to incorporate metadata into data in a standardized way so as to make it readily identifiable and understandable. XBRL and XBRL GL can be used for almost any type of business data, right down to individual transactions. Designed to place standards around the identity of the data in a way that transcends platforms and legacy systems and that enhances the ability of personnel to analyze the data, XBRL is a tool made for the Big Data Era.

For a copy of the McKinsey report, go to the McKinsey Global site here.

2011-12-07T07:27:00.001-05:00

A Roadmap for XBRL Adoption in Canada

Last month, at the XBRL International conference in Montreal, XBRL Canada and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) released the Executive Summary of a joint publication. Titled XBRL Roadmap, the document outlines how SBR could be implemented in Canada among all federal government departments and agencies.

The summary is available on the XBRL Canada website. The full document will be available early in the new year.

2011-12-01T08:20:00.001-05:00

XBRL23 Recap - Happenings in Montreal

XBRL23 brought together nearly 300 XBRL experts and innovators for knowledge sharing, networking and committee and working group meetings - including the first ever Member Assembly. Here's a rundown of some of the top happenings at XBRL23.

1. XII released the Abstract Model for public comment

2. A new Carbon Disclosure taxonomy was launched by the Global Reporting Initiative

3. The Member Assembly met for the first time featuring committee elections, progress reports and a panel on IFRS

4. New releases from the XBRL Standards Board and the Best Practices Board

5. XBRL Canada released a Roadmap for Adoption in Canada

6. Great sessions like the Mike Willis-led panel on who's using XBRL, a roundtable discussion on US legislative developments opened by a video from Congressman Daniel Issa and interviews with Bob Herz and Mike Starr on the main stage. Check out many of the XBRL23 presentations in our Knowledge Center!

7. A preview of the upcoming XBRL UAE Conference

8. The release of a much-improved financial statement (coming soon in XBRL!).

9. A preview of XII's upcoming certification program and the opportunity to connect with the publisher of iBR Magazine

10. The countless conversations, encounters and exchanges that make XII conferences the leading force behind XBRL development and adoption.

2011-11-24T09:01:00.001-05:00

Handling Data Overload
Gerald Trites

As business information systems evolve into the use of social media both internal and external, and as an awareness of the potential benefits of using unstructured data for various business purposes, such data has become both more prevalent and more critical.

Unstructured data is that which is not placed into a particular context. It could be chat messages, blog postings, emails, or just data that is made available out of a traditional system for the users. Traditional structured data comes most often in the form of relational databases, the traditional method of storing and archiving data.

With unstructured data, the challenge is to channel it into the areas where it will be of most use. However, this takes a lot of time, and users usually don't have the time when they are working on a decision or preparing a report.

The attached article provides a good overview of this issue and suggests several potential solutions. However, one solution that is not mentioned is XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language). XBRL is a XML derivative -an open system that attaches tags to data for the purpose of financial and business reporting. Tags are simply cross-references to metadata that give information about the unstructured data and can provide it with the context needed to make decisions.

If a company were to set up a system, which could be automated, to tag unstructured data available to it upon inception, those data would become an invaluable business resource. Afterwards the data could be easily retrieved using the tags of interest and similar data with the same tags could also just as easily be retrieved and analyzed.

Many people think that XBRL is useful mainly for tagging financial statements for filing with regulatory agencies. This is just wrong. XBRL is useful for structuring and archiving unstructured data in a way that accords most closely with the interests of the users of the data.

Given the proliferation of unstructured data, XBRL is an technology solution whose time has definitely come.

2011-10-07T07:22:00.002-04:00

The Latest Information on XBRL Legislation at XBRL23

Looking to attend the full conference? Registration fees include entry to all General Main Stage Sessions, Symposia and technical & business sessions, exhibits, breaks, lunches, receptions and online access to all presentations and materials.

Please click on the button above to reserve your room at the Conference facility (special conference rate $182.00 single or double occupancy) before 7 October 2011.

Le Centre Sheraton Montreal

1201, boul. René-Lévesque ouest, Montréal, (Québec)

H3B-2L7.

Rooms in the block are still available.

Silver Sponsors

Gala Dinner

*NEW* Interactive Panel Discussion: New and Anticipated US XBRL Mandated Data Standards and Its Impact on Government & Capital Markets Reporting

Thursday, 27 October - 0900

Following video remarks from House Oversight and

Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa(R-CA), join in an interactive discussion featuring David Blaszkowsky from the U.S. Treasury, Kim Wallin, State Controller of Nevada and IMA board member and David Colgren, CEO of the Colcomgroup and Chair of the IMA XBRL Sub-Committee on Advocacy and Adoption of XBRL and strategic advisor to XBRL International.

The interactive panel will discuss:

Key provisions and time schedules for implementation of The Children and Family Services Innovation and Improvement Law, amending the Social Security Act to require the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to designate common data elements and common data reporting standards to govern reporting by US States on how they spend child welfare funds that they receive from the Federal government. The panel will also identify additional legislative efforts to use XBRL across social service reporting and its relevance to the XBRL community.
The Digital Accountability and Transparency Act "DATA Act" (H.R. 2146/S. 1222) pending before Congress. The panel will discuss the status of this legislation that mandates XBRL, implementation options, potential benefits to various stakeholders such as city, state and federal government, policy makers and taxpayers and how it will change reporting between cities, states and federal agencies using insight from Kim Wallin and the State of Nevada. The panel will discuss basic steps XBRL members can take to help support the DATA Act approval by the US Congress.
Current and Future XBRL Implementation in the United States: The panel is also prepared to discuss XBRL efforts being pursued - independent of legislation- in other federal agencies and departments to provide transparency and accountability as well as provide a brief overview of the status of implementation of XBRL by the US SEC.

Price: $195 includes this session + all other Thursday October 27 activities (lunch included). Full registrants to XBRL23 are admitted free of charge.

Register for the special legislative program here

Discount hotel reservations are available

XBRL23: Enhancing Business Performance is produced by XBRL International and hosted by XBRL Canada.

2011-10-04T12:52:00.001-04:00

XBRL Canada announces XBRL23: EnhancingBusiness Performance

TORONTO, Oct. 4,2011 /CNW/ - This October 25^th through October 27^th the 23rdXBRL International Conference takes place in Montreal, Canada. Joina dynamic group of XBRL innovators and benefit from their experience andinsight on the improvement of the business information supply chain through theuse of XBRL.

Case studies,panel discussions and keynote sessions by technology, business and regulatoryleaders will bring to life the tangible benefits of XBRL and demonstrate how itcan be used to enhance business performance.

Some keyhighlights:

· Taxproject: Creation and filing of Inline XBRL in the UK

· ThereAnd Back Again - A Regulator's Tale

· Threeeasy steps to achieve real value from XBRL for your business

Additionaldetails regarding XBRL23 can be found here http://conference.xbrl.org/.

For the bestconference experience, hotel reservations should be made at the Le CentreSheraton by clicking on the link below.

Makeyour hotel reservation now, the XBRL23 special room rate of $182 USDexpires on 7 October. For the best conference experience, hotelreservations should be made at the Le Centre Sheraton by clicking on the linkabove.

XBRL Canada is supported and administered by theCanadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

For further information:

XBRL Canada,Gerald Trites, Project Director, (416) 602-3931, Email: gtrites@xbrl.ca

2011-10-04T05:27:00.001-04:00

XBRL23: Enhancing Business Performance

Registration fees include entry to all General Main Stage Sessions, Symposia and technical & business sessions, exhibits, breaks, lunches, receptions and online access to all presentations and materials.

Please click on the button above to reserve your room at the Conference facility (special conference rate $182.00 single or double occupancy) before 7 October 2011.

Le Centre Sheraton Montreal

1201, boul. René-Lévesque ouest, Montréal, (Québec)

H3B-2L7.

Rooms in the block are still available.

Silver Sponsors

Gala Dinner

Make your hotel reservation now. The XBRL23 special room rate expires on 7 October!!

"Enhancing Business Performance," is the theme of the 23rd XBRL International Conference in Montreal, Canada from October 25-27.

Join a dynamic group of XBRL innovators and benefit from their experience and insight on the improvement of the business information supply chain through the use of XBRL.

Case studies, panel discussions and keynote sessions by technology, business and regulatory leaders will bring to life the tangible benefits of XBRL and demonstrate how it can be used to enhance business performance.

See the full list of 6 tracks and over 50 sessions here.

Agenda Spotlight: What's Hot

Unified Reporting

David Stephenson, Principal, Stephenson Strategies shows how running organizations' daily internal reporting using XBRL Global Ledger (XBRL-GL) brings all of the benefits of tagged data to real-time operations, resulting in a wide range of benefits that could save billions of dollars while simultaneously improving delivery of services.

Standard Business Reporting: SBR & IFRS
Greg Divall, Program Manager, Standard Business Reporting Program, The Treasury, Australia and Marc van Hilvoorde, Logius cover the essential attributes that make up a Standard Business Reporting initiative - providing an overview of the key stakeholders to engage and capabilities that need to be delivered The session will also outline the Australian and Netherlands experiences with SBR including progress-to-date and future directions.

Deeper XBRL - XBRL's Global Ledger Framework
Join Gianluca Garbellotto , Director, IPHIX for this session and gain a deeper understanding of the GL Framework's role AS "The Great Reconciler" in operational and management visibility AND real time reporting.

Emergence of Open Source and other Resources
Herm Fischer, XBRL Developer, Mark V Systems Limited and Diane Mueller, Founder, XBRL Spy cover recent and upcoming developments in open source developments including Arelle.org, Source Forge and how you can get involved in open source development

Who is Using XBRL, Anyway?
Mike Willis, Global Lead Partner, PwC answers our most frequent questions, including: Where is XBRL available? Who is doing something with it? How do I encourage others to do things with it.

XBRL23: Enhancing Business Performance is produced by XBRL International and hosted by XBRL Canada.

2011-09-12T10:33:00.001-04:00

Early Registration Discounts are expiringon 12 September.
Act now for the best rates!!
Register before12 September and save PLUS receive a complimentary Gala Dinner ticket forWednesday evening’s festivities! ( $235.00 Value)
The program for the 23rd XBRLInternational Conference will be an XBRL experience like no other, featuring adynamic agenda led by XBRL experts from around the world sharing theirknowledge and insight regarding the use of XBRL to improve the efficientcapture and utilization of business data.
Confirmed main stage presentationsinclude:

Robert Farrell – CEO of EDGAROnline speaking on data usability
Update on the SEC by Mike Starr – Deputy Chief Accountant, US Securities and Exchange Commission
Ryan Lemand presenting an update on the current implementation project in the United Arab Emirates
James Dennison, Managing Director Operational Risk & Capital Assessment Services from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, Canada on Management Information System (MIS) Reporting - Supervisory Expectations for Financial Institutions

XBRL23 will also feature case studies andpanel discussions in six tracks led by technology, business and regulatoryleaders allowing you to realize XBRL’s true potential and benefit from thecreativity and insight of XBRL experts worldwide.

The 23rd XBRL International Conference isproduced by XBRL International, Inc. and ishosted by XBRL Canada.

2011-08-29T09:50:00.000-04:00

Gaining the Full Benefits of XBRL
by Gerald Trites, FCA

As the adoption of XBRL spreads, some companies are asking how they can get more value from their implementation efforts.

There is a way, one that has been touted by various people and organizations for some time - implementing XBRL within the system, rather than simply adding it on at the end of the reporting cycle.

Most companies that have implemented XBRL so far have been missing the boat. They have added XBRL using the so-called "bolt-on" approach, and most have outsourced it to intermediaries. The result is that they do not gain any inside experience with XBRL and they do not gain the advantage of being able to use it for internal reporting.

If they were to implement XBRL by using their own internal resources, which would include both IT people and accounting personnel, they would gain internal knowledge of XBRL and what it can do. If they were to implement XBRL at a level in their information system that makes sense to them for their internal reporting as well as their external reporting, they would be able to leverage it for both internal and external purposes. This would mean that tagged data could be used and reused with the system, making it possible to manage the data much more effectively and making possible improvements in the internal information systems, including the executive information systems. Use of XBRL for internal reporting would mean that the data would be portable across the enterprise, even when there are very different platforms involved, and could be re-used for different purposes.

With the bolt-on approach, companies do not gain these advantages. Instead, they tend sometimes to see XBRL as simply an added burden to the reporting cycle, carried out after the reporting cycle is done, and one that they don't get any real value from. The fact is they will get value through better analyst coverage and better understanding by their stakeholders of their data, but they don't always see it that way. If companies adopted it within their information systems, they would see the benefits quickly. Yes, there would be a cost, but chances are the benefits would exceed them.

Most recently ISACA together with IFAC released a report called, aptly, "Leveraging XBRL for Value in Organizations", which is available for free from the ISACA site. That report expounded on the benefits of integrating XBRL into systems. It echoed in its central message a report produced by the CICA three years ago, called "Interactive Data - Building XBRL into Accounting Information Systems", which carried the same message. (Available at the CICA site)

Hopefully more companies will start to heed this message - and thereby gain the full benefits of adopting XBRL.

2011-07-29T09:54:00.003-04:00

The 23rd XBRL International Conference in Montreal

The planning for the Montreal Conference scheduled to take place October 25 - 27 is well underway. The conference website is up and running on the XII site. With a theme of "Enhancing Business Performance", several tracks have been approved, and calls for participation have been issued. Registration will be starting this week. Plan now for this great event!

2011-06-11T07:10:00.000-04:00

THE BRUSSELS XBRL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

By Gerald Trites, FCA

The 22^nd XBRL International Conference took place on May 17 – 19 at the Sheraton Brussels. The theme was “Sharing Economic Information in a Global World: The XBRL Contribution”.

There were 342 attendees from 40 countries. The conference featured the impressive savings that governments and companies are experiencing from the use of XBRL. Typical was this comment from Mr. Didier J.L. Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of Belgium:

“The overall objective of XBRL is to improve government internal functioning, but also reduce the administrative burden of companies in Belgium reporting to government agencies,” said Mr. Didier Reynders. In 2010, the use of XBRL alone at the National Bank of Belgium has resulted in a 35% reduction in filing fees for small to medium size enterprises and an estimated annual administrative burden reduction estimated at €17.3 million. In addition, the use of XBRL has reduced the cost of annual maintenance at the regulatory level to a third of its original cost. XBRL is a first step in harmonizing data exchange with other regulators in Belgium, Europe and world to promote better transparency, accountability and risk management.”

Numerous other countries reported similar results.

The Canadian Government is seeking ways to rationalize and reduce its spending to achieve budgetary goals. It has launched the Red Tape Commission to help in achieving this end, and XBRL Canada has made a submission pointing to the use of XBRL as a means to realize significant savings in government spending as well as savings in the hands of the companies who need to file information with government departments and agencies. The proceedings of the Brussels International Conference can provide considerable insight into the savings being realized by other countries. Most presentations are available at http://www.youtube.com/user/XBRLStandards and at http://conference.xbrl.org.

2011-05-30T06:45:00.002-04:00

GLOBAL INSURANCE SECTOR EXPANDING USE OF XBRL FOR TRANSPARENCY, EFFICIENCY AND COMPLIANCE
NEW YORK, NY, MAY 27, 2011 – XBRL International, Inc. (XII) announced today that XBRL is quickly becoming the “de facto” reporting data format for insurance regulation around the world. During the recent XBRL22 Global Conference in Brussels, Belgium, XII announced that the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has chosen XBRL as the Uniform Format for Solvency II insurance reporting across Europe. EIOPA is part of the new European System of Financial Supervisors that comprises three European Supervisory Authorities.

2011-05-25T09:08:00.000-04:00

SEC No Action Letter

Posted: 18 May 2011 04:26 PM PDT

With no approved taxonomy for IFRS, the Securities and Exchange Commission may be giving IFRS filers in the United States some additional time to complete their first XBRL submissions.

The SEC has published a “no action letter” saying it will not take action against foreign private issuers who do not submit their financial statements in XBRL in 2011 because the SEC has yet to adopt an IFRS taxonomy. FPIs are due to complete their first XBRL submissions with their first filing after June 15, 2011. For most FPIs, that means their first year-end financial statements, since IFRS filers often do not produce quarterly reports.

The IFRS Foundation, which is in charge of developing the IFRS taxonomy, finalized a 2011 taxonomy in late March, but the SEC has not yet approved the taxonomy for use in completing SEC-compliant XBRL submissions. The SEC apparently is concerned the taxonomy isn’t detailed enough – meaning it doesn’t provide enough tags – to suit its needs. The IFRS Foundation says it is working on developing some supplementary tags that would reflect disclosures that are commonly reported by IFRS filers.

With the largest GAAP filers now entering their third year of XBRL submissions, the SEC has made some noise about tagging and extensions. In the earliest wave of GAAP XBRL filings, the SEC waded through quite a few more extensions than it expected. The SEC tasked the Financial Accounting Standards Board with producing more tags in the GAAP taxonomy, and it instructed companies to make better use of the tags that were available. The idea was to get more data into the detailed tags to keep the data inside the XBRL guardrails, rather than allowing so much information to seep into incomparable customized extensions.

So learning from that experience, the SEC is applying some pressure to the IFRS Foundation to make sure the earliest XBRL submissions for IFRS filers don’t follow the same pattern. Apparently, the SEC is willing to wait for a more detailed taxonomy rather than force the first round of XBRL submissions in IFRS and face another sea of extensions.

The no action letter is a bit toothless, though, because it doesn’t really say anything FPIs don’t already know. The letter doesn’t say the SEC is excusing companies from the XBRL requirement; it only says they won’t be expected to submit in XBRL until the SEC approves a taxonomy. FPIs already know they can’t make XBRL submissions without an SEC-approved taxonomy. And they know the SEC can’t really club them for not complying with the rules if it hasn’t given them the tools they need to comply.

So the waiting begins for FPI filers. Wait for a taxonomy, and wait for the SEC to approve it or to defer the effective date for XBRL submissions.

From the Hitachi Blog.

2011-04-26T09:09:00.000-04:00

XBRL Buyers Guide - New Edition

This entry is a forwarding of a message from Dan Roberts of Raas-XBRL. After the wide interest shown in the first edition of its 2011 XBRL Buyer’s Guide, raas-XBRL is pleased to launch the revised and updated second edition, the definitive and industry-endorsed guide to XBRL service and software providers, complete with the raas-XBRL scorecard. They have increased the number of vendors and improved the discussion of issues to consider.

They’d be happy to answer any questions, and you can also download a copy of the 2011 XBRL Buyers Guide from their website (http://www.raas-xbrl.com/2011-xbrl-buyers-guide).

Contact info:

Daniel Roberts

E-mail: Daniel.Roberts@raas-XBRL.com
Skype: daniel.roberts01
www.raas-XBRL.com

2011-04-18T14:31:00.001-04:00

New XBRL Canada Twiitter Account

For another tool to stay current, check out the new XBRL Canada Twitter account at www.twitter.com/xbrlcanada.

2011-04-04T12:52:00.002-04:00

XBRL Canada Hands-on Workshop – Using The IFRS Taxonomy

TORONTO - This year and early next year after switching to IFRS, over 300 Canadian companies may need to file XBRL with the SEC. The U.S. is following many other jurisdictions that have successfully implemented XBRL around the world. As Canadian public companies complete their IFRS transition, Canadian regulators will most likely begin a dialogue around an XBRL mandate.

Now is the time to get familiar with the IFRS taxonomy and how to use it.

This seminar introduces the XBRL IFRS taxonomy- what it is, how it works, how it is best used. Participants will have a chance to use it in preparing an instance document to help them understand what would be involved in actually preparing and filing regulatory documents. Additional information will be provided on current regulatory rules, the Global Filer Manual and how companies are addressing the issues that arise.

Instructor will be Eric E Cohen of PwC, a co-founder of XBRL and frequent author, speaker and teacher on technical and taxonomy topics for XBRL Canada, XBRL International and XBRL US.

Date:  April 20, 2011
Time:  8:30 am - 3:30 pm ET
Location:  Office of the CICA, 277 Wellington St. West, Toronto, ON

Registration fee: $299 CDN

To register, please go to www.xbrl.ca

Coffee, juice and muffins will be available starting at 8:00 am ET and lunch will be provided.

XBRL Canada is supported and administered by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants

2011-03-25T10:07:00.002-04:00

/R E P E A T -- XBRL Canada Seminar - INTRODUCTION TO XBRL for Canadian Issuers/

TORONTO, March 11 /CNW/ - If XBRL has not been your radar to date, it must be by this summer. This year and early next year over 300 Canadian companies will need to file XBRL with the SEC. The U.S. is following many other jurisdictions that have successfully implemented XBRL around the world. As Canadian public companies complete their IFRS transition, Canadian regulators will most likely begin a dialogue around an XBRL mandate.

Now is the time to get familiar with the basics of XBRL.

This seminar introduces XBRL - what it is, how it works, how it is best used. We will examine the concept of taxonomies, focusing on the US, IFRS and Canadian taxonomies. As well as explaining instance documents and showing how they are prepared.

In addition, a review of implementations around the world where XBRL is used for regulatory, taxation and other government filings.

Instructors are Gerald Trites, FCA, of XBRL Canada and Wasim Thaha, of Newsfile, both of whom have extensive experience with XBRL.

Date:  April 7, 2011
Time:  8:30 am - 12:00 pm ET
Location:  Office of the CICA, 277 Wellington St. West, Toronto, ON

Registration fee: $175 CDN

To register, please go to www.xbrl.ca

Coffee, juice and muffins will be available starting at 8:00 am ET

XBRL Canada is supported and administered by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

For further information:

XBRL Canada, Gerald Trites, Project Director, (416) 602-3931, Email: gtrites@xbrl.ca

2011-03-21T15:00:00.002-04:00

Call for listed IFRS filers to participate in a voluntary XBRL Detailed Tagging Task Force

The IFRS Foundation is establishing a task force to examine detailed XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) tagging in IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) financial statements, and is looking to work directly with preparers from listed companies from different industries and regions.

The Foundation has initiated the task force as a follow-up to the pilot initiative that it recently concluded with US-listed foreign companies to produce US-SEC (United States Securities and Exchange Commission)-compliant IFRS financial reports in XBRL format.

More information

View more details about the voluntary XBRL Detailed Tagging Task Force on www.ifrs.org

Visit the XBRL project page on www.ifrs.org

2011-03-11T15:32:00.002-05:00

XBRL Canada Seminar - INTRODUCTION TO XBRL for Canadian Issuers

Now is the time to get familiar with the basics of XBRL.

In addition, a review of implementations around the world where XBRL is used for regulatory, taxation and other government filings.

Instructors are Gerald Trites, FCA, of XBRL Canada and Wasim Thaha, of Newsfile, both of whom have extensive experience with XBRL.

Date:  April 7, 2011
Time:  8:30 am - 12:00 pm ET
Location:  Office of the CICA, 277 Wellington St. West, Toronto, ON

Registration fee: $175 CDN

To register, please go to www.xbrl.ca

Coffee, juice and muffins will be available starting at 8:00 am ET

XBRL Canada is supported and administered by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

2011-03-10T09:11:00.000-05:00

Who is using XBRL?
by Mike Willis, PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP

'Who is using XBRL?' is a very common question. To answer the question concisely; allot of people and many of them may not even know it as they are just using data and the source and/or format is largely transparent ant thereby irrelevant to them. However, the question of 'Who is Using XBRL' may not really be the proper question (What is using XBRL?); but before we go there; here are some examples of current users:

>EDGAR-Online's IMetrix platform http://www.edgar-online.com/OnlineProducts/IMetrixProfessional.aspx enables collaboration by retail analysts on modeling concepts. XBRL not only standardizes the data but it also standardizes formulas or collections of formulas (e.g. models). Last time I asked, over 50k retail analysts were using IMetrix and the XBRL it consumes and the XBRL formulas it enables.
>Morgan Stanley's Modelware platform http://www.morganstanleyiq.ch/DE/binaer_view.asp?BinaerNr=141 does the same thing as IMetrix and is used by Morgan Stanley analysts around the world since it was launched over 4 years ago. The problems analysts have around analysis is: 1. timely, complete, accurate, relevant data and 2. the usefulness of the model or formulas to analyze the data. XBRL helps with both the data and the formulas.
>PwC's iDP platform on KCurve http://idp.pwcinternal.com does the same thing as IMetrix and Modelware and we have 65k monthly internal users.
>There are also a very broad range of data aggregators who are consuming (directly and indirectly) the freely available SEC EDGAR RSS XBRL Data feeds http://www.sec.gov/spotlight/xbrl/filings-and-feeds.shtml
>The SEC Staff are using IMetrix and other XBRL enabled tools to analyze companies and enable collaboration across analyst groups and individuals within the Commission.
>Some companies with built-in implementations who are consuming XBRL from the EDGAR RSS Feeds directly into their reporting process for peer group risk assessments and benchmarking of both numeric and narrative concepts. An example is available via this Webinar: "Automating the Last Mile: The Role of XBRL in Streamlining Financial Reporting"https://www302.livemeeting.com/cc/pwclivemeetingroom/view?id=4FQZP6 Just enter your name.
>There are banks (ABN AMRO and Rabobank) using XBRL for credit risk assessments. http://xbrlplanet.org/wp/?page_id=395
>There are institutional analysts not only using XBRL but blogging about the quality of the company reports; here is one example: a blog by an institutional analyst who suggests just that companies should pay close attention to their use of company specific extensions: http://institutionalrisk.blogspot.com/2011/02/xbrl-usability-part-2-checking.html
>Here are more generic examples of XBRL use: http://xbrl.us/research/pages/data.htm

There is more to this than 'Who is using XBRL'........ as the more relevant question may be 'What is using XBRL?'. As part of the background, it may be useful to read: "Algorithms Take Control of Wall Street" http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/12/ff_ai_flashtrading/all/1 on the current level of automated processes found in today's trading environment. It is very interesting and thought provoking article and a few comments may bet your my attention include:
* "But many of the professional investors subscribing to Lexicon aren’t human - they’re algorithms"
* "They just want data - the hard, actionable information"

In forming the question: 'Who is using XBRL?' is there an inherent conclusion often reached by executives asking:
* if anyone has accessed the company XBRL instance on the company website; and/or
* analysts if they are using XBRL; and/or
* corporate webmaster about the traffic hits on the company XBRL instance on the company website.

Should financial executives have an expectation that:
* they can detect an application automatically consuming the XBRL instances from the SEC RSS feeds; and/or
* analysts actually know where the data comes from that populates their models; and/or
* human beings will surf company websites looking to download XBRL instances (a machine readable format) rather than automatically accessing the XBRL instances via RSS or WebService from EDGAR.

A more appropriate question may possibly be something along the lines of: 'WHAT is using XBRL?'
* What types of applications are accessing and automatically reusing the XBRL instances? (e.g. Modeling applications)
* How should companies expose their XBRL reports to maximize the capabilities of consuming applications? (e.g. Website posting and/or RSS Feed?)

Given the level of automation outlined in the article above; should companies be paying more attention to the quality of their XBRL reports? The institutional analyst blog provided above suggests just that: http://institutionalrisk.blogspot.com/2011/02/xbrl-usability-part-2-checking.html

In considering this topic, here are a couple of questions for companies to ask their analysts on this topic:
- Do you know how the data gets into your analytical models? If the answer is no; then they may not know if they are using XBRL or not. If the answer is yes; ask them how the data gets from company report into their analytical models?
- Have you ever compared the disclosures in your analytical models with those that in our company reports? [[This question will reveal if analysts are using data aggregators to populate their models. Most analysts models are populated by data purchased from data aggregators. Their parsing processes typically include an approximately 25% error rate for financial statement table disclosures and a much higher omission rate for note disclosures. You can prove this out by going to any of the major search sites (Google Finance, MSN, Yahoo Finance) who also use data aggregator data and compare their data to what is actually on company reports. Best to do this with an adult beverage nearby as many of the company specific disclosures are either normalized or omitted.]]
- How quickly are your models updated for our company disclosures? If the answer is anything other than immediately, then they are using data aggregator data which typically takes hours or days to reach their models. If may be useful to suggest that they subscribe to the EDGAR RSS feeds for your company reported disclosures.
- How do you incorporate company press release information within your analytical models? It may be useful to consider using the XBRL Corporate Actions Taxonomy to structure these disclosures so that they can be accurately, completely and automatically consumed by analyst models.

Hope that these are useful.

2011-03-08T09:21:00.004-05:00

XBRL Canada Seminar - INTRODUCTION TO XBRL

If XBRL isn’t on your radar, it should be. This year and next over 300 Canadian companies will need to file XBRL with the SEC. XBRL is being used extensively around the world. Canadian requirements are just a matter of time. Now is the time to get familiar with the basics of XBRL.

This seminar will provide a good introduction to XBRL – what it is, how it works, how it can be used. We will examine the concept of taxonomies, focusing on the US, IFRS and Canadian taxonomies. Also, we will explain instance documents and show how they are prepared. We will also review several case studies of implementations around the world where XBRL is used for regulatory, taxation and other government filings.

Date:  April 7, 2011
Time:  8:30 am - 12:00 pm ET
Location:  Office of the CICA, 277 Wellington St. West, Toronto, ON

Registration fee: $175 CDN
To register, please go to www.xbrl.ca
Coffee, juice and muffins will be provided starting at 8:00 am ET

2011-03-02T10:12:00.000-05:00

Data Type Registry Approved

At their meeting on 22nd February 2011 The International Steering Committee of XBRL International approved the Data Type Registry as a RECOMMENDATION. An initial set of datatypes were also published in the registry.

The XBRL Specification provides a set of data types that may appear in XBRL instances. Broadening use of XBRL is leading to the proposal of new, non-standard data types which have common and useful semantics. The XBRL Data Type Registry (DTR) is a public, online listing of these non-standard data types. It provides structured information about their purpose, usage, and any intended impact on XBRL instance validation.

For more information please visit http://www.xbrl.org/DTR

Thanks

Hugh

Hugh Wallis
Director of Technical Standards
XBRL International Inc.
hughwallis@xbrl.org

2011-02-01T09:49:00.001-05:00

XBRL Canada Seminar - INTRODUCTION TO XBRL

Date: February 14, 2011
Time: 8:30 am - 12:00 pm ET
Location: Office of the CICA, 277 Wellington St. West, Toronto, ON
Instructors: Wasim Thaha and Jerry Trites

Coffee, juice and muffins will be provided starting at 8:00AM

Registration fee: $175 CDN

To register, please go to www.xbrl.ca

2011-01-27T17:27:00.000-05:00


INTRODUCTION TO XBRL Date: February 14, 2011 Time: 8:30 am - 12:00 pm ET Location: Office of the CICA, 277 Wellington St. West, Toronto, ON Registration starts at 8:00 am ET (coffee, juice and muffins will be provided) Registration fee: $175 CDN - TO REGISTER, CLICK HERE An XBRL Canada Seminar

2011-01-13T10:19:00.002-05:00

XBRL Canada Webinar - Integrated Reporting and XBRL

January 25, 2011 -- Noon - 1:00PM ET

TORONTO, Jan. 12 /CNW/ - A webinar discussing Integrated Reporting and XBRL will be hosted by XBRL Canada on January 25 at 12 noon ET. Integrated Reporting is an evolution in the way companies report to their stakeholders by combining financial, sustainability and governance reporting all in one report; whereas, at present, these have traditionally been presented in separate reports.

Existing market evidence already indicates the value investors, analysts and other stakeholders place on important non-financial information (e.g., Environmental, Social and Governance or ESG data) that gives a more comprehensive view of an organization's performance.

Recently, over 250 of the world's largest institutional investors representing over $15 trillion in combined assets under management demonstrated their commitment through the UN Principles for Responsible Investment to invest in companies that follow good sustainability and Environmental, Social and Governance practices. Taxonomies and frameworks are under development now to help organizations report on an integrated basis. In the absence of widespread regulatory mandates, companies of all sizes have already implemented integrated reporting, and the movement continues to gain momentum. Now is the time to focus on integrated reporting and what your role in that process may be.

This webinar will explore how XBRL can help in the efforts to make integrated reporting a standard of corporate reporting for both internal and external audiences. Presenters will be Liv Watson and Brad Monterio, both globally recognized experts in XBRL and integrated reporting issues. Both Liv and Brad recently contributed a chapter to "The Landscape of Integrated Reporting: Reflections and Next Steps" published by Harvard Business School in November 2010.

Liv is Director and member of the senior management team of AccountAbility where she leads the Research and Development function. She is also an Executive Advisor to WebFilings, a provider of web-based software for SEC financial reporting. Brad is Managing Director of Colcomgroup, a consultancy on XBRL, accounting, and sustainability/ESG issues, as well as Managing Director of CMH Partners, an investment banking advisory firm.

To register for this event, please click here.

XBRL Canada is supported and administered by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

For further information:

XBRL Canada, Gerald Trites, Project Director, (416) 602-3931, Email: gtrites@xbrl.ca

2011-01-06T09:56:00.001-05:00

XBRL Canada Webinar - Integrated Reporting and XBRL

January 25, 2011 -- Noon - 1:00PM ET

Integrated Reporting involves a significant change in the way companies report to their stakeholders by combining financial, sustainability and governance reporting all in one report, whereas, at present, these are normally presented in separate reports. Some major companies have already implemented integrated reporting and the movement is gaining momentum.

This webinar will explore how XBRL can help in the efforts to make integrated reporting a standard of corporate reporting. Presenters will be Liv Watson and Brad Monterio, both globally recognized experts in XBRL and both of whom presented on October 14-15, 2010, at "A Workshop on Integrated Reporting: Frameworks and Action Plan" which was held at Harvard Business School.
To register for this event, please click here

2010-12-16T09:45:00.000-05:00

SEC Proposed Rule for Extraction Industry

The SEC has released its proposed rule for the disclosure of certain information about payments to affiliates for commercial development of oil, gas of minerals. Certain of the information is required to be disclosed in XBRL format.

For the proposed rule, check out this link.

2010-12-14T18:11:00.000-05:00

SEC Staff Updates Interactive Data FAQs, Guidance

The Staff of the Office of Interactive Data has updated a set of Frequently Asked Questions explaining the new rendering navigation structure (which affects how the XBRL displays in a Web browser) The Commission's rendering engine has been updated to enable users to more easily navigate through the rendered interactive data.

2010-11-17T18:55:00.003-05:00

XBRL Canada Webinar on XBRL GL

XBRL Canada today hosted a webcast focusing on XBRL GL, entitled "An Innovative Approach to Data Integration - XBRL GL."

A recording of the session (free registration required) and the slides are available from this site.

2010-11-15T09:32:00.002-05:00

Time to Register for the Webinar: An Innovative Approach to Data Integration - XBRL GL

Scheduled for Wednesday, November 17^th at Noon (ET)

TORONTO, Nov. 15 /CNW/ - XBRL Canada is very proud to have Eric Cohen from PricewaterhouseCoopers to explain how to understand & leverage XBRL's Global Ledger Framework (XBRL GL).

Many people think of XBRL as simply a way to file financial statements of public companies. But nothing could be further from the truth. XBRL GL is the taxonomy developed and recognized by XBRL International as THE standard way to represent the detailed data found in accounting, business and operational systems. It could be called XBRL Detailed Data or XBRL ERP and is valuable for internal as well as external reporting.

More than standardizing a "general ledger" or representing a standard chart of accounts, XBRL GL was designed to help businesses, large AND small, to move information between, into and out from their accounting systems to integrate with external systems and share information with their accountants and external advisors.

In this timely webcast, you will learn how XBRL GL can standardize and simplify information exchange, revolutionize business intelligence and audit, and be used today with our existing accounting software. You'll also learn why the bolt-on approach to implementing XBRL misses so many opportunities.

Attendees can view further details and register for free at www.xbrl.ca.

XBRL Canada is supported and administered by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

For further information:

XBRL Canada, Gerald Trites, Project Director, (416) 602-3931, Email: gtrites@xbrl.ca

2010-11-03T09:42:00.002-04:00

An Innovative Approach to Data Integration: Let XBRL GL do it for you

TORONTO, Nov. 3 /CNW/ - XBRL Canada is very proud to have Eric Cohen from PricewaterhouseCoopers present how to understand & leverage XBRL's Global Ledger Framework (XBRL GL).

Attendees can view further details and register for free at www.xbrl.ca.

XBRL Canada is supported and administered by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

For further information:

XBRL Canada, Gerald Trites, Project Director, (416) 602-3931, Email: gtrites@xbrl.ca

2010-10-21T06:30:00.001-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

XBRL INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHES ABSTRACT MODELING GROUP TO CREATE BLUEPRINT FOR XBRL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

MODEL LAYS SOLID FOUNDATION FOR SOFTWARE ARCHITECTS, ENGINEERS AND DEVELOPERS

Will Use UML Standard of Object Management Group (OMG)

BEIJING, CHINA, OCTOBER 20, 2010 – XBRL International, Inc. (XII) announced today at its XBRL21 global conference in Beijing that it has launched an abstract modeling group as a strategic initiative to catalyze development of more XBRL-enabled software solutions.
“The XBRL community recognizes that in order to encourage greater development of software tools that will meet the needs of XBRL data users, we must begin with an abstract model to lay the foundation for software architects and their development teams to create XBRL applications,” said Anthony Fragnito, CPA, CEO of XBRL International, Inc. “In so doing, we remove some of the obstacles to development of XBRL software tools, provide a blueprint for creating XBRL applications, and attract more independent software vendors to the community. More tools also mean more choice for the marketplace – something for which users of XBRL tagged data have been asking.”
Participants in the abstract modeling group span a wide cross-section of the software vendor community, including the largest global ERP vendors, as well as specialty solution providers, accounting firms and regulatory bodies. The group will use the Object Management Group’s (OMG) Unified Modeling Language™ (UML®) standard to create the XBRL abstract model. UML is a standard language for the analysis and design of software applications, specifying the structure and behavior of systems.
“OMG modeling technologies are pervasive around the world, and using them to support abstract XBRL specifications will help to expand the uptake of XBRL,” said Richard Solely, Chairman and CEO of Object Management Group, Inc.
Without a standard XBRL abstract model, software architects, engineers and developers must create their own proprietary models – a costly process that is prone to interoperability issues because other vendors may not formulate models that are in complete agreement. A standard abstract model leads to a more unified understanding of the XBRL technical specification, and can potentially lower development costs and remove barriers to entry.
“An abstract model provides the proper foundation for some of our other strategic initiatives designed to simplify the development process for software vendors, including the standardization of Application Programming Interface signatures,” added Fragnito. “As newer technologies emerge and are evaluated for their ability to add value to the XBRL standard, the abstract model can also play a key role to help developers both understand the impact of new technologies on XBRL as well as the impact of XBRL on the design and evolution of that new technology.”
Participants in the XII abstract modeling group will be announced shortly. Companies and individuals who are interested in participating can register their interest by completing the XII survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2010Initiatives.
The abstract modeling group is one of six strategic initiatives identified in the recently published XBRL International Standards Board (XSB) document, “Preserve. Promote. Participate. Moving XBRL Forward.” For more about these initiatives, please visit http://www.xbrl.org/2010Initiatives/XBRL2010Initiatives.pdf.

About XBRL International, Inc.

XBRL International is the global not-for-profit electronic business reporting consortium. It is comprised of more than 650 public and private sector organizations from more than 30 countries that collaborate to improve decision making across business and government by enhancing the way that performance information is defined, prepared, exchanged and analyzed. Specifically, XII is responsible for the ongoing development and maintenance of the Extensible Business Reporting Language and the promotion and support of its adoption.
Interested companies and agencies are encouraged to join the XBRL International consortium and participate in building the future of electronic business reporting. To learn more about these opportunities visit http://www.xbrl.org/abouttheorganisation.

2010-10-15T07:04:00.000-04:00

Two New Best Practices Board Publications

The Best Practices Board of XBRL International has published two white papers of interest to the XBRL community and those considering XBRL for their projects. The two papers are "Financial Supervision Reporting and XBRL" and "XBRL or Customized XML?"

The white papers are very much worth a read.

2010-10-04T09:06:00.002-04:00

Final opportunity to register for XBRL Canada Workshops & Convention

This is your last opportunity in 2010 for a workshop about the pending impact of XBRL & IFRS on your company

TORONTO, Oct 4 /CNW/ - The fourth annual convention of XBRL Canada has multiple workshop sessions that allow you to pick and choose the topics of most interest to you. The sessions and conference are being held at the Toronto Convention Centre October 6th and 7th. We are continuing to receive registrations, but registering today is advised. More information is available on the XBRL Canada website.

This is an excellent opportunity for concerned professionals working in Finance and Investor Relations to learn more about how XBRL and IFRS will play an important role for business reporting in Canada.

Several XBRL experts and solution providers will be on hand to address your concerns and questions individually as well.

There are four major parts of the workshops & sessions:

Oct 6 - Morning Sessions
The morning sessions will feature speakers from the IASB, SEC and some companies who have filed XBRL data with the SEC. The focus will be on practical issues.

Oct 6 - 1PM - 4PM - IFRS Taxonomy Workshop - led by Eric Cohen, CPA
The workshop will provide hands-on experience with using the IFRS XBRL taxonomy

Oct 7 - 8:30AM - 10:00PM Understanding XBRL
This seminar will provide a thorough introduction to the basics of XBRL - what it is, how it works, how it is used, etc.

Oct 7 - 10:30AM - 4:30PM Quality and Assurance Workshop - Led by Efrim Boritz, PhD, FCA
This research oriented workshop will explore the risks involved in XBRL tagging and how those risks might be addressed. Please view the Call for Participation for this session.

Attendees can register for one or multiple sessions, with further details available at www.xbrl.ca.

XBRL Canada is supported and administered by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

For further information:

XBRL Canada, Gerald Trites, Project Director, (416) 602-3931, Email: gtrites@xbrl.ca

2010-10-04T07:09:00.000-04:00

Organizational changes at XII

Following is a message from Dan Roberts about the proposed changes at XBRL International, which includes a direct membership option along with a number of related changes. The changes could have a significant impact on jurisdictions, including Canada, and the views of members and others are sought and welcomed.

A major change is being proposed to the membership structures and privileges of XBRL International. When I expressed my understanding of the proposed changes recently at an XBRL EU meeting, the chairman of a jurisdiction said "Now Dan, that's not what is being proposed". At that point, Tony Fragnito, CEO of XBRL International Inc said, "Well, actually, that is what is being proposed". Tony's honest and open reaction speaks to his credit, and his determination to ensure that both sides of all arguments were heard was evident.

The proposed change however, can, in my opinion, only harm the cause of global adoption of XBRL as the standard for business communication.

Usually I invite you to read and comment. For this issue, I strongly recommend you read, then talk directly with your jurisdiction prepresentatives to ensure that they know how you feel about this.

The full post is here: http://raasconsulting.blogspot.com/2010/09/proposed-xii-changes-could-limit-your.html

2010-09-14T08:21:00.001-04:00

Take note of this special session at the XBRL Canada Annual Conference

Oct 7 - 10:30AM – 4:30PM Quality and Assurance Workshop – Led by Efrim Boritz, PhD, FCA

This research oriented workshop will explore the risks involved in XBRL tagging and how those risks might be addressed. Please see the attached Call For Participation for this session.

For more info on the conference, see www.xbrl.ca

2010-09-10T09:58:00.002-04:00

Fourth Annual XBRL Canada Convention

Your Opportunity to learn about the impact of XBRL & IFRS

TORONTO, Sept. 10 /CNW/ - XBRL Canada is very pleased to announce our fourth annual convention at the Toronto Convention Centre on Oct 6 and 7. Registration is now available here.

This is an excellent venue for concerned Investor Relations and Finance professionals to learn more about how XBRL and IFRS will play an important role for business reporting in Canada.

There will be four major parts of the Convention:

Oct 6 - Morning Sessions
The morning sessions will feature speakers from the IASB, SEC and some companies who have filed XBRL data with the SEC. The focus will be on practical issues.

Oct 6 - 1PM - 4PM - IFRS Taxonomy Workshop - led by Eric Cohen, CPA
The workshop will provide hands-on experience with using the IFRS XBRL taxonomy

Oct 7 - 8:30AM - 10:00PM Understanding XBRL
This seminar will provide a thorough introduction to the basics of XBRL - what it is, how it works, how it is used, etc.

Attendees can register for one or more of these sessions separately, with further details available at www.xbrl.ca.

XBRL Canada is supported and administered by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

For further information:

XBRL Canada, Gerald Trites, Project Director, (416) 602-3931, Email: gtrites@xbrl.ca

2010-09-07T12:57:00.000-04:00

Fourth Annual XBRL Canada Convention

The arrangements for the Convention are Progressing Nicely and full registration is now available on the XBRL Canada Website. There will be four major parts of the Convention:

Oct 6 – Morning Sessions

The morning sessions will feature speakers from the IASB, SEC and some companies who have filed XBRL data with the SEC. The focus will be on practical issues.

Oct 6 – 1PM – 4PM – IFRS Taxonomy Workshop – led by Eric Cohen, CPA

The workshop will provide hands-on experience with using the IFRS XBRL taxonomy

Oct 7 - 8:30AM – 10:00PM Understanding XBRL

This seminar will provide a thorough introduction to the basics of XBRL – what it is, how it works, how it is used, etc.

Oct 7 - 10:30AM – 4:30PM Quality and Assurance Workshop – Led by Efrim Boritz, PhD, FCA

This research oriented workshop will explore the risks involved in XBRL tagging and how those risks might be addressed. Please see the attached Call For Participation for this session

You can register for one or more or all of these sessions. Further details are available on the XBRL Canada website.

2010-08-27T13:01:00.002-04:00

XBRL Canada Fourth Annual Conference

Date – Oct 6 - 7, 2010

Place – Toronto Convention Centre

Program Outline

Oct 6 – Morning Sessions

The morning sessions will feature speakers from the IASB, SEC and some companies who have filed XBRL data with the SEC. The focus will be on practical issues.

Oct 6 – 1PM – 4PM – IFRS Taxonomy Workshop – led by Eric Cohen, CPA

The workshop will provide hands-on experience with using the IFRS XBRL taxonomy

Oct 7 - 8:30AM – 10:00PM Understanding XBRL

This seminar will provide a thorough introduction to the basics of XBRL – what it is, how it works, how it is used, etc.

Oct 7 - 9:00AM – 2:00PM Quality and Assurance Workshop – Led by Efrim Boritz, PhD, FCA

This research oriented workshop will explore the risks involved in XBRL tagging and how those risks might be addressed.

For Registration, click here

Get your reservation in early!

2010-08-18T08:51:00.000-04:00

XBRL Featured as Leading Edge Practice

The Internal Auditors IT Audit Website this month features XBRL as its leading edge practice. The site provides a good overview of XBRL adoption and also provides some explanatory info and links. The website is here.

2010-08-16T15:03:00.001-04:00

XBRL Canada Fourth Annual Conference

The Fourth Annual Conference of XBRL Canada will be held at the Toronto Convention Centre on October 6 and 7. The morning of the 6th will include a series of presentations by prominent experts on the SEC, IFRS and the IFRS Taxonomy. As well, the morning will feature speakers representing some of the Canadian companies that have had to file XBRL data with the SEC to date. There will also be a discussion panel.

This is an opportunity for all companies that are going to fall under the SEC rules for XBRL filings to gain an insight on what they need to do for planning purposes.

The afternoon of the 6th will see a workshop led by Eric Cohen, global XBRL expert, on the use of the IFRS taxonomy. Then on the 7th there will be a session led by prominent professor, Efrim Boritz, FCA on the assurance implications of XBRL.

This will be the biggest XBRL Canada Conference ever, so make a note of those days and check for developments on the XBRL Canada Website. Registration details will be posted on the site next week.

2010-07-16T07:27:00.002-04:00

XBRL Canada Submission to the Government of Canada

This submission sets out the case for the Government of Canada to take a leadership role in the development of programs that would require the use of XBRL for the filing of information with government departments and agencies. Such programs are often referred to as Standard Business Reporting (SBR). The submission summarizes the growing numbers of countries around the world that are implementing or have implemented such programs, including the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, most EU countries, Singapore and others. It also points to the considerable savings that can be achieved – 25% or more of the cost to business of compliance with government filing requirements. Moreover it highlights the savings to government of utilizing technology to actually process those filings to a much greater extent, thus saving the time of human resources and enabling their attention to be directed to the more important issues rather than administrative processing routines. The submission also offers some broad guidance as to how to formulate an initiative towards such programs.

It can be viewed or downloaded at this site.

2010-06-17T09:39:00.000-04:00

XBRL Canada's New Integrated Taxonomy Acknowledged by XBRL International
XBRL Canada is pleased to announce that their new taxonomy, the Canadian GAAP taxonomy, has been acknowledged by XBRL International. The new taxonomy combines the previous taxonomies for Primary Financial Statements (PFS) and Notes to the Financial Statements and also contains updates reflecting changes in Canadian GAAP made since the previous taxonomies were released.

Although Canada is moving to IFRS for publicly accountable enterprises, Canadian GAAP remains the standard for all private companies, which account for more than 90% of all Canadian companies. The new taxonomy will be suitable for such companies and in future will be maintained exclusively for them.

The new taxonomy can be found at the following links:

http://www.xbrl.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=42

http://www.xbrl.org/ca/gaap/2010-05-05/ca-gaap-2010-05-05.pdf

2010-06-16T14:33:00.001-04:00

Call for interest to Public Companies listed in the US who currently file financial reports with the US SEC in IFRS

22 April 2010

The International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) Foundation through its standard-setting body, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), is the independent, private and not-for-profit body responsible for developing a single set of high quality global financial reporting standards for use throughout the world.

XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) is rapidly becoming the global standard for electronic financial reporting. The IASC Foundation has played an important role in encouraging the development of online financial reporting using XBRL.

The SEC rules concerning XBRL submissions from Foreign Private Issuers (FPIs) filing in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)

On 17 December 2008, the US Securities and Exchange Commission adopted rules that require all US-listed FPIs to submit their financial reports, including their periodic reports, in Interactive Data format, and specifically in XBRL. According to this rule, FPIs "using IFRS as issued by the IASB will be required to tag their financial information using the most recent list of tags for international financial reporting, as released by the IASCF and specified in the EDGAR Filer Manual".

In short, from 15 June 2011, FPIs filing their Form 20Fs to the US SEC using IFRS will be obliged to submit these filings in XBRL using the IFRS Taxonomy issued by the IASC Foundation.

Request for participation

FPIs, which will be mandated to file with XBRL in IFRS from 15 June 2011, are invited to participate in a pilot initiative being coordinated by the IASC Foundation. The pilot will focus on FPI use of the IFRS Taxonomy 2010 to tag SEC filings in XBRL.

The aim of this pilot initiative is for IFRS-reporting FPIs to produce real XBRL filings, including block-tagged notes. This will help to determine and demonstrate that the IFRS Taxonomy is practical for filers and for users of filed XBRL content. Participating companies should be able to meet the 15 June 2011 target, and to produce filing-quality reports for a recent period prepared in XBRL (tagging level 1) using the IFRS Taxonomy 2010. FPIs from all industries are welcome to participate.

Although FPIs will retain ultimate responsibility for preparing the filings, the IASC Foundation is committed to providing assistance, to review files, and to interact with preparers when specific questions arise.

Time line

The pilot initiative will start as soon as the final IFRS Taxonomy 2010 is released which is, tentatively, scheduled for the end of April 2010. It is expected that the XBRL instance documents should be made available within six weeks of the taxonomy release.

Companies interested in joining this initiative are invited to express their interest in writing. The IASC Foundation will accept applications until 15 May 2010.

Contact

Olivier Servais, Director of XBRL Activities, IASC Foundation
Email: oservais@iasb.org
30 Cannon Street, London EC4M 6XH

2010-06-11T14:49:00.000-04:00

XBRL Canada Webinar on SBR

The SBR Webinar was held last Monday and it was a successful event.

The webinar was recorded and can be viewed by going to the XBRL Canada website (www.xbrl.ca ) and clicking on the link on the main page.

XBRL Canada has also set up a LinkedIn Group (XBRL Canada – SBR Group) to continue the discussion of SBR in Canada and also to provide a forum for learning more about SBR and how it is being applied around the world. Those interested can join the group by going to:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3128882&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr

2010-06-08T13:48:00.001-04:00

SBR Webcast by XBRL Canada

Yesterday XBRL Canada held its webcast about Standardized Business Reporting (SBR) - how to reduce the government reporting burden using XBRL. The webcast featured Paul Madden, who heads up the SBR initiative in Australia and Canadian consultant George Farkas. The webcast was recorded and is now archived on the XBRL Canada website where you can click one link to get to the actual archive at this site.

2010-06-04T09:55:00.001-04:00

SBR Event - XBRL and Red Tape Reduction Initiatives

TORONTO, June 4 /CNW/ - In March 2010, Minister of Finance James Flaherty, announced the formation of a Red Tape Reduction Commission to look into ways to reduce the costs of "red tape" activities. XBRL Canada is holding a webinar on June 7, 2010 at 4:00PM Eastern on the topic of using XBRL to reduce red tape and cut the cost of government compliance. Essentially, XBRL can be used to create an environment of Standardized Business Reporting (SBR) to different government departments and agencies, reducing or eliminating the need for businesses to report in numerous different formats as is now the case.

Australia is a leading example of a country that is implementing an SBR program. Paul Madden, Director of the SBR program in Australia, will speak at this webinar. Canada can learn from the Australian XBRL experience with SBR implementation, as well as the impressive benefits they plan to gain from the initiative. George Farkas, Canadian XBRL consultant and a past Chair of XBRL Canada, will speak on the parallels between Australia and Canada, and explain why SBR will work well in Canada.

Similar initiatives in several other countries have led to large scale implementations of XBRL for the filing of information with Governments. These initiatives have led to significant cost savings and various other benefits which will be discussed in more detail at the webinar.

This is an excellent venue for concerned Members of Parliament and their staff, other members of government and business people to learn more about how XBRL can reduce the reporting burden currently placed on businesses in Canada.

In a late breaking story, it was announced today that SBR is now up and running in Australia. See the story here.

Registration for the webinar is free and available via the XBRL Canada website at www.xbrl.ca.
XBRL Canada is supported and administered by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

For further information: XBRL Canada, Gerald Trites, Project Director, (416) 602-3931. Email: gtrites@xbrl.ca

2010-06-02T10:02:00.002-04:00

R E P E A T -- SBR Event - XBRL and Red Tape Reduction Initiatives/

TORONTO, May 14 /CNW/ - XBRL Canada is holding a webinar on June 7, 2010 at 4:00PM Eastern on the topic of using XBRL to reduce red tape and cut the cost of government compliance.

In March 2010, Minister of Finance James Flaherty, announced the formation of a Red Tape Reduction Commission to look into ways to reduce the costs of "red tape" activities.

Similar initiatives in several other countries have led to large scale implementations of XBRL for the filing of information with Governments. These initiatives, referred to as Standard Business Reporting (SBR), involve the use of XBRL for all, or a significant portion, of government filings thus providing a single reporting standard, enabling multiple uses of the same tagged data and promoting consistency among the different filing systems. This initiative has led to significant cost savings and various other benefits which will be discussed in more detail at the webinar on June 7, 2010.

This is an excellent venue for concerned Members of Parliament and their staff, other members of government and business people to learn more about how XBRL can reduce the reporting burden currently placed on businesses in Canada.

Australia

is a leading example of a country that is implementing an SBR program. Paul Madden, Director of the SBR program in Australia, will speak at this webinar. Canada can learn from the Australian XBRL experience with SBR implementation, as well as the impressive benefits they plan to gain from the initiative. George Farkas, Canadian XBRL consultant and a past Chair of XBRL Canada, will speak on the parallels between Australia and Canada, and explain why SBR will work well in Canada.

Registration for the webinar is free and available via the XBRL Canada website at www.xbrl.ca.

XBRL Canada is supported and administered by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

For further information: XBRL Canada, Gerald Trites, Project Director, (416) 602-3931, Email: gtrites@xbrl.ca

2010-05-14T10:34:00.000-04:00

SBR Event - XBRL and Red Tape Reduction Initiatives

TORONTO, May 14 /CNW/ - XBRL Canada is holding a webinar on June 7, 2010 at 4:00PM Eastern on the topic of using XBRL to reduce red tape and cut the cost of government compliance.

In March 2010, Minister of Finance James Flaherty, announced the formation of a Red Tape Reduction Commission to look into ways to reduce the costs of "red tape" activities.

Similar initiatives in several other countries have led to large scale implementations of XBRL for the filing of information with Governments. These initiatives, referred to as Standardized Business Reporting (SBR), involve the use of XBRL for all, or a significant portion, of government filings thus providing a single reporting standard, enabling multiple uses of the same tagged data and promoting consistency among the different filing systems. This initiative has led to significant cost savings and various other benefits which will be discussed in more detail at the webinar on June 7, 2010.

Canada

Australia

is a leading example of a country that is implementing an SBR program and Paul Madden, Director of the SBR program in Australia, will speak at this webinar. Canada can learn from the Australian XBRL experience with SBR implementation, as well as the impressive benefits they plan to gain from the initiative. George Farkas, Canadian XBRL consultant and a member of XBRL Canada, will speak on the parallels between Australia and Canada, and explain why SBR will work well in Canada.

Registration for the webinar is free and available via the XBRL Canada website at www.xbrl.ca.

XBRL Canada is supported and administered by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

For further information: XBRL Canada, Gerald Trites, Project Director, (416) 602-3931, Email: gtrites@xbrl.ca

(Further note - The registration page will be live later today.)

2010-05-03T08:31:00.000-04:00

Global XBRL Adoption Update

A global update on XBRL adoption was released a while ago by XBRL International. The survey shows a spread of SBR as a motivation for adoption of XBRL, notably in Australia, but also other countries. SBR (Standard Business Reporting) is an approach to standardization of government filings and reports using XBRL as the core technology. SBR has been a key strategy in several countries to reduce the burden to business of compliance with governmental filing requirements. Hopefully, the Canadian Government will consider SBR in their new Red Tape Commission initiative.

The global survey also shows a continued growth of XBRL in the regulatory area, particularly in securities regulation. A presentation on the survey with lots of details built in can be found at this site.

2010-04-28T08:54:00.000-04:00

New XBRL Tools

A growing number of tools are becoming available for XBRL users. At the Rome conference recently several of them displayed their products, new and old (but updated), representing a range of functionality. A summary of them can be found on the conference website.

2010-04-10T08:24:00.000-04:00

XBRL/IFRS in the Oil and Gas Industry

XBRL Canada recently held a seminar in Calgary dealing with broad issues facing the Oil and Gas industry in their IFRS convergence activities and likely adoption of XBRL. The two - IFRS convergence and XBRL adoption - are closely related as indicated by the speakers. The seminar was well attended by representatives from the industry and others.

The presentations from the seminar are now available for download at the XBRL Canada website.

2010-04-01T07:37:00.000-04:00

SBR in Australia

The Australian Government has started a blog on SBR (Standard Business Reporting). SBR is a process of providing for business a standard method of reporting to government departments using XBRL as the standard. At present, in many countries, (including Canada) business must report to the different departments, such as Finance, Revenue and Statscan using different methods unique to each of those departments. This imposes a substantial burden on businesses who must support systems, technologies and processes for each of those different methods. SBR means they only have to support one method, and will lead to substantial savings for Australian business, who are about to launch a comprehensive SBR program..

The new SBR Blog of the Australian Government can be found at http://blog.sbr.gov.au/.

2010-03-26T16:51:00.002-04:00

The XBRL Canada IFRS/XBRL Webinar

The March 24, 2010 XBRL Canada WEBINAR, featuring Paul Cherry, veteran of International Accounting Standard Setting, and Wasim Thaha, chair of XBRL Canada in now available online. The Webinar featured the major issues ariound IFRS convergence and the links with XBRL adoption.

The archive for this event is at click here
An MP3 version of the audio is available, click here

2010-03-12T12:50:00.002-05:00

IFRS and XBRL - What you need to know now

TORONTO, March 12 /CNW/ - XBRL Canada is holding a webinar on this important topic on March 24th from 12:00 Noon - 1:00 PM.

The SEC Rule regarding XBRL contains a clause stating that "all foreign private issuers that prepare their financial statements in accordance with IFRS as issued by the IASB, will be subject to the same interactive data reporting requirements beginning with a periodic report on Form 10-Q, Form 20-F or Form 40-F containing financial statements for a fiscal period ending on or after June 15, 2011."

In Canada, all companies are required to adopt IFRS beginning with January 1, 2011. This means that IFRS must be applied to the first interim financial statements in 2011.

The end result is that all Canadian Cross-listed companies, which number approximately 350, will be required to adopt both IFRS and XBRL, using the IFRS taxonomy, beginning in 2011 and early 2012.

This webinar focuses on the planning issues that are of concern to Canadian Cross-listed companies in preparing for the adoption of IFRS and XBRL. It will address key questions such as;

- What are the planning implications of the current and emerging

regulations on IFRS and XBRL in Canada and the U.S.?

- What has been the experience of other companies that have already

adopted IFRS and XBRL in other parts of the world?

- What commonalities exist in the planning for XBRL and IFRS adoption

that can be employed to achieve greater efficiency?

- What resources are available to help companies as they move to

implement IFRS and XBRL?

Paul Cherry, Chairman of the Standards Advisory Council of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) and former Chair of the Canadian Accounting Standards Board, as well as Wasim Thaha, Chair of XBRL Canada will be speaking at the webinar.

Be sure to reserve this date. Registration is available on the XBRL Canada website at www.xbrl.ca.

XBRL Canada is sponsored and administered by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

For further information: XBRL Canada, Gerald Trites, Project Director, (416) 602-3931, Email: gtrites@xbrl.ca

2010-03-10T10:13:00.002-05:00

XBRL Canada Welcomes the Announcement of the Red Tape Reduction Commission

TORONTO, March 10 /CNW/ - The announcement in the Federal Budget Document tabled in the House of Commons on March 4 that includes a Red Tape Reduction Commission is a welcome move for Canadian business. The complexities of compliance mandated by government agencies are substantial and often redundant.
At present, companies who file with the federal departments and agencies must file a diverse number of different reports, usually in different formats. The inefficiency of this approach costs reporting companies substantial dollars in unnecessary expense for systems maintenance, multiple data input and completion of various forms.
Leveraging the efficiencies of a unified system employing XBRL could save considerable dollars. It is important to note that XBRL is an open standard currently in various stages of use worldwide.
Over twenty countries have implemented programs to reduce the compliance burden and red tape for companies reporting to government agencies. In several of these countries, XBRL is well recognized as an important part of achieving efficiency within these programs.
The Netherlands, for example, recognized this several years ago and has been implementing XBRL throughout government filings. The estimated value of reducing reporting burdens is approximately (euro)400 million per annum. In addition, they say full implementation of XBRL, "with its wide incorporation across relevant financial accounting software packages will result in substantial time savings to business - up to 33% compared to the time required for traditional annual accounts." A similar program is underway in Australia and under consideration in other countries.
The adoption of XBRL for standardizing the reporting of data is a feasible and cost-effective way to achieve the objective of substantially reducing the cost of compliance by Canadian companies. XBRL Canada will welcome the opportunity to present the efficiencies of XBRL to the Red Tape Reduction Commission as part of its initiative.

XBRL Canada is a not-for-profit consortium, funded and supported by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, formed to foster and encourage the use of XBRL for greater efficiency in Canadian Business.

For further information: XBRL Canada, Gerald Trites, Project Director, (416) 602-3931, Email: gtrites@xbrl.ca

2010-03-10T10:12:00.000-05:00

IFRS and XBRL in the Oil and Gas Industry - What you need to know now

CALGARY, Mar. 9 /CNW/ - XBRL Canada is holding a seminar on this important topic in Calgary on April 7th at 8:00AM.
There is an urgent need to prepare for the adoption of IFRS in Canada and to understand how the emerging corporate reporting landscape will be impacted by XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language). The SEC in the U.S. has already enacted regulations that cover mandatory reporting in XBRL. In 2011 these SEC rules will have significant implications for Canadian companies as foreign filers using IFRS and the associated IFRS XBRL taxonomy.
This seminar focuses on the planning issues that are of concern to Canadian Oil and Gas companies in preparing for the adoption of IFRS and XBRL. It will address key questions such as;

-   What are the implications of the current and emerging regulations on
        IFRS and XBRL in Canada and the U.S.?
    -   What has been the experience of other companies that have already
        adopted IFRS and XBRL in other parts of the world?
    -   How suitable is the current IFRS XBRL taxonomy for Oil and Gas
        companies and how could the taxonomy be impacted by IASB Extractive
        Activities project?
    -   What resources are available to help companies as they move to
        implement IFRS and XBRL?

Global experts in IFRS and XBRL will be speaking at the seminar. Solution providers will also demonstrate their products and will be available to discuss best practices.
Cost of the seminar is $50 per person. Registration is available through the XBRL Canada website at www.xbrl.ca.
XBRL Canada is supported and administered by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants

For further information: XBRL Canada, Gerald Trites, Project Director, (416) 602-3931, Email: gtrites@xbrl.ca

2010-03-05T08:35:00.004-05:00

Red Tape Reduction Commission
by Gerald Trites

The Federal Budget tabled yesterday contained an interesting announcement that is very pertinent to what the XBRL community is trying to accomplish. The announcement was as follows:

"Red Tape Reduction Commission: A commission, involving both parliamentarians and private sector representatives, will be established to review federal regulations in areas where reform is most needed to reduce the compliance burden and provide specific recommendations for improvement."

The Budget report tabled yesterday goes on to say:

"Reducing red tape for businesses is an ongoing challenge that requires continued attention. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) estimates that businesses in Canada currently spend over $30 billion each year complying with regulations."

At present companies who file with the federal departments and agencies must file a diverse number of different reports, usually in different formats. The inefficiency of this approach costs the filers millions of dollars, perhaps billions, in unnecessary expense for systems maintenance, data input and form completion. If they were able to use a standard system - XBRL - they could save considerably in these areas.

Over twenty countries around the world have implemented programs to reduce the compliance burden and red tape for companies dealing with the governments. In several of these countries, XBRL has been considered and/or recognized as a way to assist with achieving the goals of these programs.

The Netherlands, for example, recognized this several years ago and has been implementing XBRL across the board for government filings. "It was in response to concern for the enormous incidence of duplication in reporting that the Netherlands Government in 2004 launched a major initiative known as the Dutch Taxonomy Project."

"In their progress report to the Dutch Government in April 2006 officials indicated that from January 2007 the majority of small and medium sized businesses would be required only to provide annual accounts data to the Chamber of Commerce (thus replacing traditional multiple reporting arrangements). The XBRL taxonomy will make it possible to supply the data to other institutions with 'just one push of the button'. The estimated value of burden reduction from this measure is put at approximately €400 million per annum. In addition, full implementation of the Dutch XBRL taxonomy in 2007, with its wide incorporation across relevant financial accounting software packages will result in substantial time savings to business- up to 33% compared to the time required for traditional annual accounts." (emphasis added). A similar program is underway in Australia and under consideration in other countries.

The adoption of XBRL for rationalizing the reporting of data to governments is a feasible and cost-effective way to achieve the laudable objective of substantial reduction in the cost of compliance by Canadian companies. The new Red Tape Reduction Commission should give top priority to its consideration.

2010-02-19T10:36:00.000-05:00

XBRL Canada to Hold a Webinar on Mar 24 dealing with IFRS and XBRL Implementation

TORONTO, Feb. 19 /CNW/ - XBRL Canada is holding a webinar on this important topic on March 24th from 12:00 Noon - 1:00 PM.
The SEC Rule regarding XBRL contains a clause stating that "all foreign private issuers that prepare their financial statements in accordance with IFRS as issued by the IASB, will be subject to the same interactive data reporting requirements beginning with a periodic report on Form 10-Q, Form 20-F or Form 40-F containing financial statements for a fiscal period ending on or after June 15, 2011."
In Canada, all companies are required to adopt IFRS beginning with January 1, 2011. This means that IFRS must be applied to the first interim financial statements in 2011.
The end result is that all Canadian Cross-listed companies, which number approximately 350, will be required to adopt both IFRS and XBRL, using the IFRS taxonomy, in 2011.

For the rest of the press release, please follow this link.

2010-02-10T10:40:00.000-05:00

Forthcoming XBRL Events

2010 is shaping up to be a big year for XBRL in Canada. XBRL adoption driven by the SEC rules has already started and will escalate between now and mid 2011. Other organizations are showing an interest in XBRL for internal purposes. As a result, XBRL Canada is planning a series of events:

March 24, 2010. There will be a Webinar featuring Paul Cherry, veteran of International Accounting Standard Setting, discussing IFRS adoption, along with Wasim Thaha who will comment on the related XBRL implications. This webinar will be the first of a series.

April 7, 2010 will see a seminar in Calgary devoted to the relationship between IFRS and XBRL adoption for the Oil and Gas Industry.

Further information about these events will be forthcoming shortly. Other events are in the early planning stage.

And from April 20 - 22, the 20th XBRL International Conference will be held in Rome with a theme of "Linking Businesses, Public Regulators & Citizens." This event will be of particular interest to those who are considering XBRL adoption for governmental purposes beyond securities regulation, an area where Europe has been a leader.

Stay tuned to this blog and the XBRL Canada Website for further details and additional events.

2010-01-21T07:35:00.000-05:00

New IAASB Publication on XBRL

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has released a new awareness document explaining the relationship of IAASB Standards and XBRL and pointing out that the current standards were not developed with XBRL in mind. As the press release says,

"Recognizing the growing international use of Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL)—a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data that is changing business reporting around the world—the staff of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has developed a new question-and-answer publication. It is designed to raise awareness about how XBRL-tagged data is prepared and how it may affect financial reporting.
Entitled XBRL: The Emerging Landscape, the publication explains that the IAASB’s current International Standards on Auditing (ISAs) were not developed with XBRL in mind and, accordingly, do not require auditors to perform procedures on XBRL-tagged data as part of a financial statement audit. It clarifies how XBRL may lead to a demand for various types of assurance and related services engagements, and describes the scope of the IAASB’s planned consultations to determine whether to develop a new international pronouncement addressing XBRL.
“As more and more financial authorities begin to require or permit entities to provide financial information in XBRL, now is the time to help educate users about some XBRL fundamentals, and for the IAASB to explore whether and how a related international standard might help address assurance needs,” says James Gunn, IAASB Technical Director. “A number of organizations are involved in XBRL initiatives and we look forward to hearing the viewpoints of preparers, users, regulators, national standard-setters, auditors, and others on this important topic,” adds Mr. Gunn.
The publication is available to download free of charge from the IAASB section of IFAC’s Publications and Resources site: web.ifac.org/publications."

2010-01-15T16:28:00.000-05:00

Survey Shows Companies in the US are getting ready for XBRL

XBRL US, the XML standard setter for business information reporting in the U.S., announced today that public companies are heeding the advice to "start early" in preparing for XBRL adoption, according to a joint survey with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). 73% of respondents said that they have begun preparations for adoption of XBRL. Most of those surveyed, 93%, had at least a basic knowledge of XBRL. See a report on the survey at this site.

The situation is very different in Canada, where in a recent survey, more than 80% of respondent companies had little or no understanding of XBRL. Cross listed Canadian companies will be required to conform to the SEC requirements. They are scaling in over the next few years, but the big effect will take place when IFRS is adopted next year. Companies filing with the SEC in IFRS will be required to file in XBRL.

2009-12-27T10:06:00.001-05:00

Data in the Next Decade

There is a time for predictions or at least thinking more deeply about the future and often that time is at the beginning of a new year and especially a new decade. Technology News has come up with some predictions about the "tens" which contain the following:

"As we move through our lives, we'll leave more and more digital detritus. Some of it will resemble what we share online today. Some will be emitted quietly by devices, just as mobile phones can signal their location.
We'll also have access to more data about the world around us, dwarfing the real-time stock quotes, government statistics, scientific databases and other information stores available today.

In the next decade as conjured by Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey, all that information will be available instantaneously, anywhere. He imagines spotting an acquaintance at a conference and having at his fingertips links to the person's most recent research, plus a reminder of her husband's name."

This is dead on in terms of existing trends and the logical course of events as we move forward into the next decade. Companies are moving to cloud computing. Computing capacity will grow exponentially because of this fact. The capacity for handling data, raw and otherwise, will also grow tremendously. New technologies for adding context to that data, such as XBRL, will come into their own. People will rely on selecting relevant data and running analytics against it rather than poring over prepared reports. The behavioural implications of this trend are most intriguing.

Analysts, investors and others will become accustomed to drawing upon the data they find most relevant to their decision making needs. Over time, they will develop customized analyses and simply refresh those analyses with fresh data when they need to review their decisions.

Over the next decade, the growth in the power of information systems will be remarkable, but the behavioural changes prompted by that growth will be even more so. Check out the predictions by Technology Newsworld.

2009-12-16T08:44:00.000-05:00

IASC Foundation publishes 2010 architecture for the IFRS and IFRS for SMEs Taxonomies

On December 9, 2009, the IASC Foundation issued a release to announce that "the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) Foundation published The IFRS Taxonomy 2010 Architecture Draft for public comment. It also published a project summary and feedback statement on Architectural improvements to the IFRS Taxonomy. The feedback statement summarises the architectural improvements that will be implemented in the next release of the IFRS Taxonomy in 2010 as a result of consultations in July 2009.

"The IFRS Taxonomy 2010 Architecture Draft documents in detail the XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) architecture of the IFRS Taxonomy 2010, including the IFRS for Small and Medium-sized Entities (SMEs) Taxonomy. It explains the design rationale of the IFRS Taxonomy architecture, how the architecture satisfies the requirements of the Taxonomy, and the use of axes (dimensions), taxonomy modularisation, taxonomy framework, extensions framework and instantiation in the Taxonomy. It also addresses new XBRL technologies such as formulae, rendering and versioning, and the technical aspects of the IFRS Taxonomy relevant to software vendors."

2009-12-09T09:00:00.003-05:00

A Dream for XBRL
by Gerald Trites

The CICA had its annual Corporate Reporting Awards in Toronto yesterday. The Awards program has been running for almost 60 years and its an understatement to say that there has been a lot of change over those years. In 2001, the Awards program was expanded to include Electronic Disclosure - basically how companies use their websites to disclose IR information.

A consistent theme of the judges reporting on electronic disclosure has been that companies often make it difficult for users to obtain the information they want, usually by burying it within huge pdf files, that take a long time to download and search.

This year, the judges cited a CICA research study expected to be released in the spring which takes a somewhat different approach to web disclosures. As the ED judging coordinator, I said the study will be taking the approach that the website should be viewed as a data mart. The data within the site is packaged largely according to packages that have evolved over a long period of time within the paper paradigm, such as financial statements, MD&A's and annual reports. We need to think of the availability of the data and question whether the traditional packages really do the job. We need to think of how that data can be repackaged to make it more useful to investors and other users. The website needs to be viewed holistically and the data availability made consistent across the site.

So here's the dream. That the data mart be totally organized and packaged by using XBRL. That a single taxonomy be created for the presentation of website data marts that sweep in all the data that would be included on the IR section of a website. To be manageable, the architecture of such a taxonomy would likely have to incorporate, perhaps, by reference the existing financial statement taxonomies. This could be handled without great difficulty.

An XBRL reader would be included in the website so that the users would not have to look at XML style instance documents and this reader would be used to assemble the data the users want.

The advantages of this Website taxonomy would be impressive. It would enable instant access to all the details in the IR Section of a website, even within the notes to the financial statements. The information could be compared internally and with other companies.

Most importantly, the users would not have to dig through annual reports and big PDF documents to find the information they want. Why don't we do that?

2009-11-30T09:55:00.000-05:00

How to Avoid Common Errors in SEC Filings

The SEC filings are coming in and there has been some opportunity to analyze them. Charles Hoffman has posted a new entry on his blog that provides a summary of the most common errors and how to avoid them. Take a look.

2009-11-24T08:25:00.001-05:00

Bowne & Co

XBRL Canada has several members with world class skills and experience with XBRL regulatory filings. Bowne & Co is one of those members.

This article represents the first in a series featuring individual XBRL members. The intent is to provide some idea of the kind of help that is available for companies that are faced with the prospect of needing to file in XBRL this year or over the next few years.

Bowne & Co got into the XBRL world early and was the first to file with the SEC Voluntary program when it started. They offer XBRL filing and consulting services and their website contains a useful introduction to XBRL as well as a repository of a number of useful tools. For example, the site contains a free Interactive XBRL Viewer, which will enable companies to upload their filings and then view them as they will appear on the SEC site. Their Compliance Driver is an automated external reporting solution that simplifies the creation of compliance documents, integrates XBRL tagging and IFRS conversion into the process and reduces the risks that often occur with external reporting.

A corporate blog, managed by renowned XBRL expert Rob Blake, sets out some of the latest events on XBRL including notice of the many webinars held by Bowne.

Keep an eye out for future articles on XBRL Canada members.

2009-11-17T08:36:00.000-05:00

Learning About XBRL

Want to learn a bit about XBRL? Try some of these sites:

KPMG offers a good tutorial on the basics
Bowne & Co has another one online that emphasizes preparing good regulatory filings
RR Donnelley and Edgar Online have put up another excellent site on SEC Filings called Try XBRL.
The Journal of Accountancy has an online tagging tutorial using slides on tagging XBRL documents.
To learn about rendering, try this slide deck from XBRL International
For the more technically minded, try this on the XBRL Specification
And for numerous links to articles and educational materials on XBRL, try this site from Bryant University.

Happy Learning

2009-11-09T07:42:00.002-05:00

How Not to Lose the Momentum
by Gerald Trites

This year, in Canada, XBRL has been pushed to the sidelines until IFRS implementation is complete. This is unfortunate because it will put us further behind other countries than we already are. There is increasing evidence that global capital markets are embracing XBRL and that countries like Canada, because of the importance of information availability, will be at an increasing disadvantage in raising capital in those markets.

It is also unfortunate because it is based on the mistaken belief that XBRL implementation is a project that is, or almost is, as big as IFRS implementation. This is simply wrong. The two are not even in the same league. IFRS implementation for many, if not most, companies is a massive project. XBRL implementation by comparison is small. David Blazskouske, Director of the Office of Interactive Data for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) spoke last week at the XBRL Canada Annual Conference. He, along with others having experience with regulatory filings, pointed out that XBRL implementations are not large projects, that they consume resources measured in weeks, unlike IFRS projects which take larger teams many, many months. Usually XBRL projects only require a small team of accountants to implement and with minimal training.

Because Canadian companies are immersed in IFRS convergence, they have their teams in place. It is interesting to note that the teams required to implement IFRS are similar in composition to those required for XBRL - accountants. We have written before of the advantages to companies of implementing IFRS and XBRL at the same time. The similarity in accounting skills required simply means economies of scale in making good use of those teams. If management does not wish to take this approach, then the next best approach is to retain the accounting team that was built for IFRS and use that team, with perhaps a bit of tweaking, to implement XBRL. This way, the momentum gained through IFRS implementation can be transported into the project to implement XBRL. It's a project that will need to be done in any event - we know that - and the core of a good XBRL implementation team is already in place. So why not use it?

The presentations for the XBRL Annual Conference are on the XBRL Canada website.

2009-11-06T07:10:00.000-05:00

Annual XBRL Canada Conference

The annual conference was held yesterday in Toronto and it was a successful and high quality event. An interested audience posed good questions to the panellists, leading to some stimulating discussion. The presentations are now on the XBRL Canada website and are available for download.

2009-11-05T18:18:00.002-05:00

Thompson Reuters files in XBRL

Thompson Reuters Corporation has filed their interim financials on SEDAR in XBRL. The company filed their unaudited consolidated financial statements for the period ended June 30, 2009 in XBRL under the Canadian Securities Administrators’ Voluntary Filing Program. They filed using the 2009 IFRS taxonomy. They are the largest company to file under the voluntary program to date and also the first to file using IFRS. The XBRL files can be viewed at this link.

2009-10-21T09:46:00.000-04:00

Paul Cherry, Chair of the International Accounting Standards Board, is to speak on IFRS Convergence at the XBRL Canada Annual Conference in Toronto. Other speakers will include David Blazkouske of the SEC, Andrew Lowe of the OSC and several vendors and exhibitors. The theme of the conference is to provide regulatory filers and potential filers with an up-to-date status report and concrete help in getting organized for the adoption of IFRS and XBRL.

The conference will take place at the Toronto Convention Center on November 5 beginning at 9AM. For the full agenda and registration details, please go to www.xbrl.ca.

2009-10-16T13:52:00.001-04:00

Annual Conference – XBRL Canada

November 5, 2009, Toronto Convention Center

FOR THE AGENDA AND TO REGISTER PLEASE GO TO WWW.XBRL.CA

SPEAKERS FROM THE SEC, CSA, IASB, XBRL INTERNATIONAL AND A VARIETY OF VENDORS OF XBRL SOLUTIONS.

A PRACTICAL EVENT THAT WILL HELP FILERS DECIDE ON AN APPROACH TO FILING WITH REGULATORS.

2009-10-13T09:31:00.002-04:00

Canada's new Chief Information Officer

Ms Corinne Charette has been named CIO for Canada. "In this role she is responsible for establishing strategies, directions and policy for the Government in the areas of Information Technology, Information Management, Security, Privacy and Access to Information." The role includes a mandate for improving the transparency of information.

In a related article, it was pointed out that Canada has lost ground since the 1990s as a leader in information technology in government. At one time, the eGovernment program was lauded around the world as a model of government usage of technology, particularly the internet, for making services available online to all Canadians.

Now we are lagging noticeably behind in the adoption of new technologies. XBRL is a notable example. Many other countries in the world have adopted XBRL as a means to improve transparency of information and improve the efficiency with which information can be moved around and made available in forms that are far more useful than the old printed form methods. The Netherlands, Australia, Britain, and much of Europe has adopted XBRL in one way or another towards this end. As a result, their information can be made available freely and easily across platforms within government departments and to the public.

The old ways of handling information are not good enough any more. One hopes that Ms Chartette seizes the opportunity she has in her new role to bring about change - change that will usher in a new era of information availability, mobility and transparency.

2009-10-07T16:29:00.000-04:00

XBRL Canada Annual Meeting
Toronto November 5, 2009

A national press release has just been issued to announce the forthcoming XBRL event to be held in Toronto on November 5. See the press release here. Further details will be coming out shortly.

2009-09-18T07:12:00.003-04:00

Reserve this Date

November 5, 2009

Toronto Convention Center

XBRL Canada will be holding a major event focused on the needs of regulatory filers on November 5 in Toronto.

The event will feature a number of vendors who will demonstrate their products and be available to discuss approaches to filing. Prominent speakers will also discuss Canadian and US regulatory requirements. Further details will be announced soon.

Registrations will be limited so it is advisable to get yours in early by sending an email to lucia.ng@cica.ca.

Vendors who wish to participate should contact Jerry Trites at gtrites@zorba.ca. Cost of vendor participation will be $1000 for members and $2500 for non-members. Participants will be featured as event sponsors and will be able to set up booths and banners and make a presentation to the audience.

XBRL Canada is sponsored by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

2009-09-12T07:12:00.002-04:00

Improving Access to Government Data on the Web
By Diane Mueller

On September 4th, the President took another important step toward a more open and transparent government by announcing a new policy to voluntarily disclose White House visitor access records. Aside from a small group of appointments that cannot be disclosed because of their necessarily confidential nature, the record of every visitor who comes to the White House for an appointment, a tour or to conduct business will be released. As historic as the President’s announcement is, it is also a good illustration of what is missing from the administration’s technology infrastructure plan — a coordinated approach to providing data standards.

On the surface, this new disclosure of visitor data looks perfectly fine. The data made available in a simple Comma Separated Values (.csv) file is easily downloaded and opened into a spreadsheet for viewing purposes.

Take a step beyond simple viewing, and try to mash up this content to see where the visitor’s list collides with other interest groups and data sources — you begin to get an idea of the complex nature of data mapping. For example, think of mashing up this visitor information with the U.S. SEC filings that include the names and remuneration of executives of publicly traded companies tagged in XBRL.

Better yet, simply try to blog about someone’s visit to the White House and reference a snippet from the .csv content. Then go to Twitter and post a tweet with a link to your blog so you can have bragging rights about being the first to notice some VIP’s visit. If I then repost the information on my blog and one of my readers wants to get back to the source file to verify the facts without some form of metadata and URI associated with the content, there is no path back to the original source. Therefore, there is no validation that the information is accurate. When I repost your information on my blog, I am simply trusting your cutting and pasting skills and trusting that you accurately interpreted the information. This can be a potentially dangerous situation that often leads to a lot of misinformed “noise.”

So far, in the marriage of social networks and open government, there has been a lot of “noise” coming in, but there has been very little done in the way of creating constructive solutions for accurate and trusted citizen participation.

Without the metadata about the newly disclosed visitor content or any other government information, the accuracy with which data is interpreted is jeopardized with each reuse. Without a link back to the source, the authenticity of the content is no longer discoverable. Without this information, it’s all just more “noise” on the web.

Where Does XML Fit in?

XML industry standards bring metadata to the content. Even a simple XML schema and an instance document would have gone a long way to ensure that, regardless of what tool consumed the visitor data (including spreadsheets), the information would always be interpreted in the same manner. Furthermore, the use of an XML industry standard for identity would enable one to leverage existing tools to mash up the content with other data sources. The key benefit of XML is that consuming applications no longer requires someone to reinvent clever ways of mapping and representing complex data, so developers can expend their energies on solving higher level problems that have a greater return.

There are plenty of other examples across federal, state and municipal government agencies that build the case for leveraging XML industry standards to aid in creating greater transparency and to create efficiencies for the agencies themselves.

Where Do We Go from Here?

Recovery.gov and multiple other individual government agency projects have taken strides forward to granting the public access to government data. However, cross-agency conversations are still taking place to get some agreement on common data models for comparing and mashing up information from multiple data sources accurately.

Efforts such as the NIEM XBRL harmonization discussions should be applauded as this combined effort should aid in the accurate mapping of government financial data across agencies. There is still a long way to go before we can start to leverage the really interesting technologies like Resource Description Framework (RDF) and the Semantic Web.

While everyone wants to jump on the Web 2.0 bandwagon, designing the technology infrastructure to ensure that it is done in an open, transparent and accurate manner requires a lot of cross-agency collaboration. The administration’s goal should be to ensure that the public can collaborate on the analysis and dissemination of public information across the web in a manner that can be trusted, authenticated and redistributed without imposing a cost burden on the consumers or the producers of that information. That is no small task.

This all leaves me wondering if I am guessing correctly about what was being talked about in the White House on 7/14/2009 at 3:00:00PM and about who was in the room. If my assumptions are right — loosely based on about 22,200 Google hits for Stephen J. Hemsley, who was listed as visiting Aneesh Chopra, for whom there are about 1,170,000 Google hits — I’m guessing a lot of these same data topics were addressed with a slight healthcare twist. But then again, I’m doing the interpretations here and making the free associations, so you’ll just have to trust me.

To add your input to the conversation about improving data access on the web, join us at the Workshop on Improving Access to Financial Data on the Web on October 5-6, 2009, in Arlington, VA, that is co-organized by W3C and XBRL International, Inc. and hosted by the FDIC.

###

Diane Mueller has been actively involved in the development efforts of the XBRL standard for the past decade. She is the Canadian representative to the XBRL International Steering Committee, serves as vice chair of that body, and chairs the XBRL Working Groups on Rendering and Software Interoperability. She currently serves as vice president of XBRL development at JustSystems, the largest independent software vendor in Japan and a worldwide leader in XML and information management technologies. Learn more about JustSystems at http://www.justsystems.com, and contact Diane at diane@justsystems.com. You may also follow Diane on Twitter at @XBRLspy.

2009-08-27T06:43:00.003-04:00

Financial Reporting in Flux
by Gerald Trites, FCA

Financial reporting has been undergoing a process of change for several years. At one time, the focus was on the financial statements, and much else that was reported was an offshoot of the statements. Accountants spent much of their time preparing these financial statements for "general use" in accordance with "generally accepted accounting principles." That still happens of course, but there has been a lot more going on as well.

Companies have been expanding the types of data they present to stakeholders. A research study published by the CICA last year identified more than 50 types of information presented by companies, of which the financial statements is only one type. The rest of it consists of major items like the MD&A and less extensive items like the President's Report.

What's more, the data is being presented much more often. Where it was originally presented annually, then quarterly, now there is a constant flow of information. The central vehicle for presenting this information has become the corporate website.

Add to this the idea that companies have been organizing their data through the use of ERP systems and integration software and you have a scenario that is going to evolve more quickly than many of us imagine.

Companies will be called upon the make available increasing quantities of their data to the public directly from their systems on a real time basis. That is the trend. companies will deny it and resist it, but it is bound to happen through the demands of stakeholders.

The implications of this are tremendous, not the least of which are issues around establishing data integrity and obtaining independent assurance. But it does mean that there will be a need for a standard with which the data can be presented and used. Filling this need is when XBRL will achieve a new level of usefulness. Indeed, that is a role in which XBRL will be able to achieve its full potential.

2009-08-24T13:07:00.002-04:00

Why XBRL?
by Gerald Trites, FCA

There are still questions being raised by knowledgable people asking why we are getting into XBRL and what the value is of it. A vast quantity of material has been written about this topic, and yet it seems that there is still a need for more. This post is a modest attempt to explain why XBRL is not only desirable, but necessary.

Data is at the core of business activity. Everyone in or connected to business activity understands this fully. Managements spend much of their time digesting and acting on data. Investors need relevant and accurate data in order to make their decisions. Regulators need data to enable them to understand whether their charges are behaving within the ambit of the applicable rules and regulations.

Also, it is no secret that in recent years, the volume of data that these people need to cope with has expanded tremendously. Annual reports, for example, which once were a couple dozen or so pages have grown to hundreds of pages. And the Annual Reports have become only a small part of the data that is made available to investors. Notes to financial statements are becoming legendary in terms of their volume and complexity.

Investors, managements, analysts and regulators all need to try to understand all this data. They certainly have their work cut out for them.

It was this growing volume of data, combined with the effects of the Sarbanes Oxley act that prompted the SEC to require XBRL. They knew that to do a proper job of handling and analyzing all this data would require hiring large numbers of people, and they didn’t have the budget for that. Their only alternative was to find a technology solution.

XBRL was a solution because it enables data to be transferred from a source system to a destination system without human intervention. What’s more, the XBRL tags contain a lot of data about that data (metadata) which enables the receiving system to perform a lot of analysis, again, without human intervention. That leaves the humans with the ability to budget their time to spend on the most important areas, the ones that need the most attention. In addition – a real bonus, the XBRL data is formatted in accordance with internationally recognized standards, which make it easy to ensure the sending and receiving systems are compatible.

For investors and analysts, the present system involves obtaining data and inputting or importing it into spreadsheets and then trying to format it into some form that might be useful. Everyone knows that manually inputting data is inefficient and error prone. Then they need to call the company and ask questions about the numbers they have laboured on, many of which would have been answered automatically by the XBRL metadata.

With XBRL, they can save a great deal of time even with conventional spreadsheets. The software industry has been working on some tools that they can use that will be even better, although they have been slow. But they are coming. Better analyst coverage means better investment decisions, and lower cost of capital.

So why XBRL? It automates many things that are presently being done manually, but that are no longer feasible with the vast amount of data that must be handled. That’s not just something that is nice to have, it’s something that is absolutely essential.

2009-08-21T08:36:00.006-04:00

XBRL and IFRS
A Missed Opportunity?

One of the big reasons Canadian companies say they are holding off on XBRL is because they are caught in the throes of IFRS implementation. This is understandable, since IFRS implementation for most companies is a huge undertaking. However, the reason may also be somewhat fallacious in that there can be economies in implementing both simultaneously, even though this may not be intuitively obvious.

The thing is, when implementing IFRS, companies need to dig into the IFRS standards, and understand how it affects individual items in their financial statements as compared to Canadian GAAP.

In implementing XBRL, a roadmap showing the impact of IFRS on individual items is provided through the IFRS taxonomy. All major taxonomies contain reference linkbases, that contain references to the standards underlying particular elements in the taxonomy. The reference linkbase in the IFRS taxonomy contains the name, number and date of issue for the standards relevant to each particular financial statement item.

Those who are implementing IFRS may gain valuable insight into the effects of IFRS by using the IFRS taxonomy as a helpful aid.

Of course, the Canadian GAAP taxonomies also contain reference linkbases that refer to the relevant Canadian standards. Therefore, using both the Canadian and IFRS taxonomies, there is a cross referencing roadmap available for IFRS implementation enabling reference to the Canadian standards and comparison to the IFRS standards.

XBRL Canada is in process of building a convergence tool that is soon to go into testing phase. The prototype is available on the web, and will soon contain mappings from a common point (the giffe) to both the IFRS and Canadian GAAP taxonomies, and can be used to produce preliminary instance documents in both sets of standards for comparison.

Companies that defer XBRL implementation until after IFRS implementation may be missing an opportunity to achieve some real efficiencies for both projects.

2009-08-19T06:27:00.002-04:00

BRAG

A very interesting and well developed site has been launched by the Business Reporting Advisory Group. This is a consultancy that originated in Europe but operates around the world. It's worth a look.

2009-08-10T07:54:00.003-04:00

Tracking Companies Filing Interactive Data with the US

The best way to track companies filing xbrl data with the SEC is by using the RSS feed they have made available. Unfortunately it only provides the last 100 filings. The inability to search for all xbrl filings is an amazing shortcoming in the SEC's new search interface called the Next Generation System. Why the SEC did not provide the ability to search out all xbrl filings is a complete mystery. They could have done it easily, just like SEDAR does. Here's a link to the RSS Feed.

There is an expectation that a number of cross-listed Canadian companies will be filing. Some are required to since they meet the first round requirements of market cap of $5 billion or more and the use of US GAAP. So far, we have noticed Tim Hortons and CN Rail.

2009-08-04T12:24:00.001-04:00

History of XBRL

The AICPA has published a History of XBRL, which contains extensive commentary by Charles Hoffman, the inventor of XBRL. It's a good read, and informative and can be downloaded free of charge from this site.

2009-07-25T11:01:00.002-04:00

XBRL Global Update

The XBRL Section of IASC Foundation, directed by Olivier Servais, periodically releases an update outlining events taking place around the world involving XBRL. The report is always comprehensive and always amazing in the amount of XBRL activity taking place in every corner of the globe. The latest version, for June, is posted at the IASB site. It's worth being on your regular reading list.

2009-07-17T13:17:00.002-04:00

Social Media Comes of Age

If you ever doubted that Social Media has come of age, consider this: Twitter is being considered for a Nobel Peace Prize. The reason is the role it played in the recent Iranian unrest. Many will also remember that Twitter played an important role in the US election last fall, when Obama used it effectively during the election.

2009-07-15T09:11:00.002-04:00

Explaining XBRL to CFOs

Research and surveys continue to show that most managers and executives do not have a clear understanding of what XBRL is and what it can do. The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA), chief sponsor of XBRL in Canada, just issued a publication to help in addressing this issue. It's a CFO Briefing called "Transition to XBRL", under the auspices of the Canadian Performance Reporting Board. It's available for free download from the CICA Website and is definitely worth a read.

2009-07-15T05:44:00.001-04:00

XBRL videos on Google Video can be very helpful in gaining a quick understanding of what XBRL is all about. Check them out.

They're great.

2009-07-10T14:30:00.001-04:00

Making the Case for Inline XBRL
by Diane Mueller, Chair, XBRL International Technical Working Group on Rendering

Web 2.0 technologies like XML, web services and social networking have taken off like wildfire and have caught many accounting professionals off-guard. The accounting profession only recently put down their pens and made the move from paper to spreadsheets and electronic forms for processing and visualizing financial data.

With Accountants and regulators alike require a visual representation of the financial reports before approving their release or attesting to the authenticity of a financial document. There is an almost gut-level need harkening back to the days of the abacus and stone tablets to an almost instinctual need to touch and see the numbers in order to believe and trust in their authenticity.

Both preparers and consumers of business reports work with human readable documents containing a very broad range of formatting decisions. Some of these formatting decisions — such as presentation order of the information or accessibility — even have legal ramifications. There is still a clear need to be able to refer to the “hard copy” — even where the “hard copy” refers to an on-screen document.

Professionals responsible for the production and dissemination of business reports are generally concerned that the information they release is carefully formatted. Accounting documents (particularly financial disclosures) attract special attention from preparers, auditors and securities regulators. The manner in which the reports are formatted — from ensuring that figures are correctly aligned, to making sure sub-totals and totals are suitably emphasized all the way through, to considering the font-size of footnotes — is important. Individual preparers have different preferences and these, too, need to be taken into account.

On the other hand, computers and consuming applications of financial data prepared by accountants care very little about the visual representation of the incoming content. Computers are only concerned with number-crunching, comparability, searchablity and further processing of the data. Most consuming applications have alternative visualizations of financial data in mind rather than the staid financial statements prepared lovingly by the accountants. Dashboards, charts and graphs, and 3-D representations of complex models fed by streams of financial data from multiple sources are the charge of consuming applications with distribution to multiple channels — mobile devices, browsers, desktops and just about anything with a display screen that hosts a picture rather than a financial report.

Why Do We Need Inline XBRL?

With the widespread adoption of XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language) as the de-facto standard for delivery of financial data, a clear design issue quickly became apparent — XBRL instance documents contain well defined facts but no formatting. XBRL was designed to support the machine-to-machine transmission of financial data, and as such, has succeeded beyond its originators’ wildest dreams with adoption moving forward on a global scale.

The XBRL technical community assumed that the accounting and regulatory community would move more quickly to a world view that ‘trusted’ machine-to-machine transmission — letting go of this seemingly archaic need to “see” some form of visual representation of a financial report for review prior to submission to regulators or publication to shareholders.

However, early on, there was a push from both the accounting and regulatory communities to publish XBRL-tagged financial and business information for display in situations where the producer wants to preserve a specific visual presentation of the information. This is necessary because the order and presentation of the information can often have legal interpretive ramifications for the consumers of that information.

It became necessary to create an extension to the XBRL 2.1 standard to enable the machine-readable data to co-exist with human-readable formats. Inline XBRL was developed to make it possible to deliver structured, machine-readable data inside a human-readable rendering of the data.

It is easier for software developers — especially accounting software vendors — to create reports in HTML, the universal language for web browsers, and add hidden metadata which can be used to construct a machine-readable copy of the same information.

Inline XBRL makes it possible to extract an XBRL instance document on demand. This means that the technique makes it feasible for regulators, exchanges, banks and others responsible for the collection of business reports in XBRL format to ask preparers to merely submit their information as an Inline XBRL document. This is a human-readable XHTML file that can be stored and redistributed in this original format. At any time, an XBRL instance document can be extracted from the XHTML document, validated and passed on to relevant analytical and consuming applications and processes.

This means that vendors need only work out how to create XHTML documents and can adapt their existing report rendering capabilities to format business reports. The Inline XBRL specification defines the syntax for such documents and describes how the syntax maps into an XBRL instance.

Inline XBRL in Action

Recently, a normative stylesheet was developed by the XBRL International consortium as an implementation reference and released on SourceForge as an open source project. The stylesheet enables users to reliably and predictably strip out the unstructured information from the XHTML, then extract and create a valid XBRL instance document. This approach to financial content delivery is simpler, provides more control and flexibility in report formatting, and can be fairly easily implemented. The extracted XBRL instance document is now machine-readable and is fully compliant with the XBRL 2.1 standard for use by regulators and other consumers of financial information. The recently released project can be found on SourceForge at http://sourceforge.net/projects/inlinexbrl/.

The first large-scale use of Inline XBRL is being rolled out in the UK as the outcome of communication minister, Lord Carter’s Report’s recommendations to make the use of XBRL for online filings mandatory. The HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is rolling out a phased implementation for Tax Computations and Accounts (CT600 filings) as part of the its annual self-assessment regime for Company Tax reporting. By 2012, all filings will be online and using Inline XBRL.

Inline XBRL addresses XBRL’s rendering issues by putting it back in the hands of the producing applications — where it belongs. Currently, production applications control layout, look and feel, and branding for paper, web and PDF output. Why should XBRL be any different? With Inline XBRL, both preparer and consumer are guaranteed the same rendering when either party views the document in any browser. To find out more about Inline XBRL, please visit http://www.xbrl.org.

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Diane Mueller has been actively involved in the development efforts of the XBRL standard for the past decade. She is the Canadian representative to the XBRL International Steering Committee, serves as Vice Chair of that body, and chairs the XBRL Working Groups on Rendering and Software Interoperability. She currently serves as vice president of XBRL development at JustSystems, the largest independent software vendor in Japan and a worldwide leader in XML and information management technologies. Learn more about JustSystems at http://www.justsystems.com, and contact Diane at diane@justsystems.com. You may also follow Diane on Twitter at @XBRLspy.

2009-07-07T04:53:00.002-04:00

Videos of the main stage presentations from the 19th XBRL International Conference, Paris June 23, 2009 are available here.Welcome to XBRL:

2009-07-03T05:53:00.003-04:00

Speed Bumps for new SEC Filers

There are a couple of issues that new filers will encounter under the new SEC rules. These include the fact that the FASB has renumbered its rules through its new codification, which is not reflected in the taxonomies. Also, the Edgar system will not be able to accept filings using the new 2009 US GAAP taxonomy until July 22, 20009. Some consultants are recommending that filers use the 2008 US taxonomy the first year as they are permitted to do. A write up on these speed bumps is found on the CFO website.

2009-07-03T05:13:00.002-04:00

UK Tax Service Going to Compulsory XBRL filing

Effective with year ends of March 31, 2010, Corporate tax returns in the UK will be required to file online using XBRL. The service is putting the final touches on its requirements, and new legislation and regulations have been introduced. The drafts are on the website of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs and on this website of Accounting Education. It's a good model for Canada to pursue.

2009-06-28T19:43:00.005-04:00

Canada Brings up the Rear
By Gerald Trites

The International XBRL Conference in Paris ended on June 25 after three days of intensive discussion and informative sessions from governments, regulators, consultants, aggregators, publishers, academics and others. Each year, the XII conferences get richer with content and show amazing progress in the adoption of XBRL around the world.

A Canadian attending the conference is prompted to ask one simple question – Why is Canada so far behind the rest of the world? Don’t we realize that equity markets depend on current data and that much of the rest of the world is now or soon will be able to produce that data in a form that can be read and analyzed by any computer systems; that it can be analyzed with unprecedented speed and depth? That economies have globalized and that the free flow of information is of paramount importance? That we soon will not be able to compete?

We Canadians are stuck in the last vestiges of the Gutenburg era, while the rest of the world is speeding ahead with state-of-the-art technologies. Blame it on governments that lack foresight, or on regulators that feel they need to follow the US – at a safe distance - or on our branch plant mentality. Whatever the reasons, we are badly behind and we will pay a price for that.

At the conference, speakers from the US, UK, Netherlands, Australia, Spain, China, Japan, Belgium and many others spoke of their programs that have, or are about to, involve the implementation of XBRL. David Blaszkowsky, Director of the SEC's Office of Interactive Disclosure in the US, spoke about their new filing requirements.

Ignacio Boixo, coordinator of the XBRL Network of the Committee of European Banking Supervisors, spoke about the XBRL implementations of both the COREP (Basel II) and FINREP (IFRS) reporting frameworks which are now used in more than half of the member countries of the European Community.

Speakers from the Netherlands talked about the development of the taxonomy for the Netherlands Taxonomy Project (NTP), which involves a comprehensive adoption of XBRL across the government, so all filers can use XBRL for all their filings with government authorities. The savings from this approach, often referred to as Standard Business Reporting (SBR) will be many millions of Euros.

Paul Madden, the Program Director for Standard Business Reporting (SBR) in Australia, discussed their program, which is broadly similar to the NTP in the Netherlands and involves 12 government agencies, and the development of a single taxonomy for Australian businesses to report to government.

Andy Greener, an Enterprise Architect of Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs in the UK, gave a compelling presentation on their program to require all UK companies to file their tax returns in XBRL by next year. Companies House in the UK has already received over 100,000 filings in XBRL.

A speaker from the Federal Public Service, Finance in Belgium reported on a corporate tax return taxonomy development project for that country, which will lead to XBRL tax filings in Belgium. Two members of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) told of the implementation of XBRL-based filings by banks to the Reserve Bank.

Mr. Koji Yoshida, head for Disclosure Planning in the Tokyo Stock Exchange Inc., reported on their implementation of XBRL.

There were many others. XBRL is rapidly becoming the standard format for the reporting of financial and business information in stock exchanges, banks, tax departments and other government departments generally around the world.

We need to get moving.

2009-06-25T04:50:00.003-04:00

Bowne has developed a new product to automate the conversion between 2008 and 2009 taxonomies, called Bowne XChanger. This software tool will automatically make technical updates in the XBRL files and provide detailed results as to what previously-used US GAAP and extension taxonomy elements are found in the new 2009 taxonomies. They are using this tool internally to transition their full-service clients, but it is also available on their website for self-tagging issuers. www.bowne.com/xbrl

2009-06-19T08:07:00.002-04:00

XBRL in Paris

The XBRL International Conference is being held in Paris from June 23 to 25. This year, the conference has added an academic track, in which a number of research papers are being presented. The program, which can be found on the XBRL.ORG website, has a wide variety of topics and speakers, covering such areas as taxonomy development, reporting burden reduction, banking supervision, and the impact of the semantic web. The latter, the semantic web is the wave of the future, and there is work under way to incorporate XBRL in it. There has been enough experience with the real world application of XBRL by now to be able to offer up a number of case studies and empirical research projects that will strengthen XBRL for the future. It's worth tracking the conference next week. It will be webcast live for the first time from the XBRL.ORG site.

2009-06-12T08:47:00.003-04:00

Time for Paris!

The 2009 XBRL International Conference is being held in Paris starting on June 22. The theme is on reducing the burden of compliance with legislation and regulations, which is an important topic at any time, but especially during these times of restraint. What you learn at the conference could save you the cost.

Details at the xbrl.org site.

2009-06-07T15:10:00.002-04:00

Is your Investor Relations Web Site Ready for XBRL?

by Diane Mueller

The U.S. SEC recently issued new rules requiring companies to provide financial statement information on their corporate web sites in an interactive data format using the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). This is good news because XBRL has the potential to increase the speed, accuracy and usability of financial disclosures for investors while also ultimately reducing corporate costs.

Companies are now required to provide their financial statements on their corporate web sites in interactive data format using XBRL no later than the calendar day that they submit their financial statements to the SEC (1). In this format, financial statement information can be viewed interactively from your investor relations web sites, downloaded directly into spreadsheets, analyzed in a variety of ways using commercial off-the-shelf software and used within investment models in other software formats.

The U.S. SEC rules will apply to public companies and foreign private issuers that prepare their financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP) and foreign private issuers that prepare their financial statements using International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB).

This interactive data format must be provided as an exhibit to all periodic and current reports and registration statements, as well as to transition reports for a change in fiscal year. The new rules are intended not only to make financial information easier for investors to analyze, but also to assist in automating regulatory filings and business information processing.

The XBRL Challenge

Until now, individual investors could obtain only high-level key financial figures for large companies with stock price history from sites like Yahoo! Finance and MSN Money. Institutional investors and research firms with deeper pockets could obtain real-time financial data feeds from pay-per-view data aggregators like EDGAR Online. However, these data sources are highly normalized, disconnected from the source and lack any semantic annotations. In greater detail, these data sources are fed by automated screen-scraper aggregation applications culling information from the HTML or ASCII filings and then are mapped to the data aggregators’ various relational databases. This extraction process is expensive and error-prone — especially when data has to be remapped to data aggregators’ relational databases prior to distribution to their various subscription-based data feeds. Also lost in this aggregation process are essential features of financial information: access to the reporting entities’ ‘as-reported’ stories, trust in the authenticity of the content, and granular detail. Data aggregated in this manner is not able to reflect the reporting entities’ as-reported financials.

The SEC ruling introduces a phased mandate for filing in XBRL starting with the largest companies in June 2009, and the ruling will extend to companies of all sizes over the next three years. As a result, we can expect to see very large amounts of financial data becoming available in a machine interpretable format (XBRL). The challenge is to exploit this data to provide new kinds of services to investors.

With XBRL, financial data has become a lot more interactive, with an emphasis on helping users make sense of the data. What distinguishes XBRL is the precise semantics attached to every reported fact. This makes it easy to pull out specific figures and concepts, and facilitates accurate comparison. XBRL metadata also enables both drill-down to granular detail and linking to reference sources like definitions, rulings and accounting standards documentation sets.

How to Take Advantage of this Opportunity

Now is the time to get your IR web site compliant with the U.S. SEC mandate.

First, you need to ensure that your IR web site is ready and able to accept and post XBRL filings in an easily discoverable and permanently linkable manner. It is important that you clearly identify the data that you control on your IR web site. By assigning URIs (hyperlinks) to resources (actual XBRL-tagged filings), you enable other people to talk about and even share ‘as reported’ views of your filings using social networking applications.

URLs like this are not useful for XBRL filings:

http://www.mycompany.com/IR/
b518b359b4abd4df0d6f7f129770b078/compdetails

A better approach is to use a URI scheme like this:

http://www.mycompany.com/IR/
{CompanyId}/{filingtype}/{year}/{number}

Using a numerical-based canonical URI provides an explicit hierarchical scheme that is much easier for search engines and other web browsing tools to discover. This approach represents the data in a way that people can use easily, and it will enable you to expose the data to a wider audience in a repeatable fashion.

Secondly, you should also consider delivering a rendered view of your XBRL-tagged SEC filings alongside the raw XBRL filings. Simply posting the raw XBRL files may not be enough. At this early stage in adoption, there are only a few desktop applications available to consume the XBRL content, and you will want to make sure that your site’s visitors can take advantage of the interactive data and access the rich semantic metadata-enhanced XBRL-tagged financial reports on demand.

Finally, although the SEC ruling only requires that XBRL data be made available for at least 12 months on an issuer’s web site (2), it would be wise to continue to host the data on a longer, more permanent basis. Links that disappear after 12 months can be very frustrating for users of that content and can create broken links in search engines. Also, keeping the data around long-term allows you to continue to control the data and allow for your site's visitors to perform a historical analysis of your financials without having to search for each filing individually on the U.S. SEC EDGAR site or subscribe to expensive data feeds.

In addition, by hosting your XBRL financial content on your Investor Relations web site, the data becomes infinitely more discoverable by search engines. The U.S. SEC blocks all search engines, including Google, MSN, Yahoo, and so on, from indexing any files at the SEC.gov web site. This practice impedes individual investors from easily linking to and aggregating the content on their own.

This new approach will enable your content to remain connected to the original source — improving ‘trust’ in the provenance of the source of the information and enabling a previously unattainable level of information granularity.

If you take these few important steps, you will vastly improve the findability of your financial information, enable your site’s visitors to view your filings in real-time, share them with colleagues across social networks, link to the filings directly on your site and eliminate the barriers to access by your key stakeholders.

[1] The day the registration statement or report is submitted electronically to the Commission may not be the business day on which it was deemed officially filed. For example, a filing submitted after 5:30 p.m. generally is not deemed officially filed until the following business day. Under the new rules, web posting will be required at any time on the same calendar day that the related registration statement or report is deemed officially filed or required to be filed, whichever is earlier.

[2] The inital proposing release did not specify that the XBRL data would be required to be posted for at least 12 months on an issuer’s web site, but commenters requested clarification and the SEC did make a clarifying amendment to the ruling.

Diane Mueller has been actively involved in the development efforts of the XBRL standard for the past nine years. She is the Canadian representative to the XBRL International Steering Committee, serves as Vice Chair of that body, and chairs the XBRL Working Groups on Rendering and Software Interoperability. She currently serves as vice president of XBRL development at JustSystems, the largest independent software vendor in Japan and a worldwide leader in XML and information management technologies. Learn more about JustSystems at http://www.justsystems.com, and contact Diane at diane@justsystems.com.

2009-05-29T07:41:00.002-04:00

IR Professionals Show an Interest in XBRL

Tracy Lutz, President of Keystone Investor Relations Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, has written an article for IRFOCUS, a publication of the Canadian Investor Relations Institute (CIRI) which provides a lucid explanation of XBRL and places it in context for IR professionals. It's a good read and is available at the CIRI website.

2009-05-26T10:02:00.003-04:00

XBRL Research

Several years ago, Dr Saeed Roohani of Bryant University in Rhode Island established the XBRL Educational Resource Center at that University. Since then, the Center has held annual conferences on XBRL and also an annual contest for students' research papers.

The results of the latest student competition, the 2008-09 Global XBRL Academic Competition have been announced and are available at the Center's site. A team from Iran won the contest this year with a paper entitled "Company Performance Analysis Using XBRL, Intelligent Visual Fraud, and XBRL Surveillance and Analysis Desktop".

Other research and educational activities of the Center are available at that site. The Center has made and is making a significant contribution to research in XBRL.

2009-05-21T06:46:00.003-04:00

Standard Business Reporting in the US
Gerald Trites

On May 13th, Bill HR 2392 was introduced into the US House of Representatives. The purpose of the bill is "To improve the effectiveness of the Government’s collection, analysis, and dissemination of business information by using modern interactive data technologies." The act would establish a process of standardizing the collection, analysis and dissemination of information using XBRL. The act calls for periodic updates on the progress being achieved.

This is a strong initiative by the US government and will have a major impact on the use of XBRL and will be of immense benefit to all companies and organizations who must file information with the federal government. Ultimately, it will mean they will be able to reuse their tagged data for all government reports, resulting in considerable savings related to data preparation and handling. A copy of the bill is available on this website.